THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


'tun;  nf  "ilormmttBm 


JAMES  E.  TALMAGE 

Ph.D.,  F.R.S.E. 


SECOND  EDITION 

r 


a^ 


SALT  LAKE    CITY 

Bureau  of  Information 
1910 


Copyright 

by 

James  E.  Talmage 

1910 


PREFACE.      ,^ 


The  Story  of  ''Mormonism"  as  pre- 
sented in  the  following  pages  is  a  revised 
and  reconstructed  form  of  lectures  deliv- 
ered by  inA^tation  at  the  University  of 
Michigan,  at  Cornell  University,  and  else- 
where. The  '^Story"  first  appeared  in 
print  as  a  lecture  report,  in  the  Improve- 
ment Era,  Vol.  IV;  and  was  afterward 
issued  as  a  booklet  from  the  office  of  the 
''Millennial  Star,"  Liverpool.  It  has  also 
been  pubhshed  in  Turkish  and  Modern 
Greek.  In  this,  the  second  edition,  the 
lecture  style  of  direct  address  has  been 
dropped,  and  this  change  constitutes  the 
principal  alteration  to  which  the  original 
text  has  been  subjected. 

J.  E.  Talmage. 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 
April,  1910. 


iue. 


The  Story  of  **Mormonism." 


In  the  minds  of  many,  perhaps  of  the 
majority  of  people,  the  scene  of  the  "Mor- 
mon" drama  is  laid  almost  entirely  in 
Utah;  indeed,  the  terms  "Mormon  question" 
and  "Utah  question"  have  been  often 
used  interchangeably.  True  it  is,  that  the 
development  of  ''Mormonism"  is  closely  as- 
sociated with  the  history  of  the  long-time 
Territory  and  present  State  of  Utah;  but 
the  origin  of  the  system  must  be  sought  in 
regions  far  distant  from  the  present  gather- 
ing-place of  the  Latter-day  Saints,  and  at 
a  period  ante-dating  the  acquisition  of 
Utah  as  a  part  of  our  national  domain. 

The  term  ' 'origin"  is  here  used  in  its 
commonest  application — that  of  the  first 
stages  apparent  to  ordinary  observation — 
the  visible  birth  of  the  system.  But  a  long, 
long  period  of  preparation  led  to  this  physi- 
cal coming  forth  of  the  ''Mormon"  religion, 
a  period  marked  by  a  multitude  of  his- 
torical events,  some  of  them  preceding 
by  centuries  the  earthly  beginning  of  this 
modern  system  of  prophetic  trust.  The 
"Mormon"  people  regard  the  estabUshment 
of  their  Church  as  the  culmination  of  a  long 


6  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

series  of  notable  events.  To  them  it  is  the 
result  of  causes  unnumbered  that  have 
operated  through  ages  of  human  history, 
and  they  see  in  it  the  cause  of  many  devel- 
opments yet  to  appear.  This  to  them  estab- 
lishes an  intimate  relationship  between  the 
events  of  their  own  history  and  the  pro- 
phecies of  ancient  times. 

In  reading  the  earhest  pages  of  ^'Mormon" 
history,  we  are  introduced  to  a  man  whose 
name  ^^ill  ever  be  prominent  in  the  story  of 
the  Church — the  founder  of  the  organiza- 
tion by  common  usage  of  the  term;  the 
head  of  the  system  as  an  earthly  establish- 
ment— one  who  is  accepted  by  the  Church 
as  an  ambassador  specially  commissioned 
of  God  to  be  the  first  revelator  of  the  latter- 
day  dispensation.  This  man  is  Joseph 
Smith,  commonly  known  as  the  ''Mormon" 
prophet.  Rarely  indeed  does  history  pre- 
sent an  organization,  religious,  social,  or 
political,  in  which  an  individual  holds  as 
conspicuous  and  in  all  ways  as  important 
a  place  as  does  this  man  in  the  develop- 
ment of  ''Mormonism."  The  earnest  in- 
vestigator, the  sincere  truth-seeker,  can 
ignore  neither  the  man  nor  his  work;  for 
the  Church  under  consideration  has  risen 
from  the  testimony  solemnly  set  forth,  and 
the    starthng    declarations    made    by    this 


THE  STORY  OF  ^'mORMONISM."  7 

person,  who,  at  the  time  of  his  earliest  an- 
nouncements, was  a  farmer's  boy  in  the 
first  half  of  his  teens.  If  his  claims  to  or- 
dination under  the  hands  of  divinely  com- 
missioned messengers  be  fallacious,  forming 
as  such  claims  form,  the  foundation  of  the 
Church  organization,  the  superstructure 
cannot  stand;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  such 
declarations  be  true,  then  indeed  is  there 
little  cause  to  wonder  at  the  phenomenally 
rapid  rise  and  the  surprising  stability  of  the 
edifice  so  begun. 

This  man  was  born  at  Sharon,  Vermont, 
in  December,  1805.  He  was  the  son  of  in- 
dustrious parents,  who  possessed  strong 
religious  tendencies  and  tolerant  natures. 
For  generations  his  ancestors  had  been 
laborers,  by  occupation  tillers  of  the  soil; 
and  though  comfortable  circumstances  had 
generally  been  their  lot,  reverses  and  losses 
in  the  father's  house  had  rendered  the 
family  almost  abjectly  poor;  so  that  from 
his  earliest  days  the  lad  Joseph  was  made 
acquainted  with  the  pleasures  and  pains  of 
hard  work.  He  is  described  as  being  more 
than  ordinarily  studious  for  his  years;  and 
when  that  powerful  wave  of  reUgious  agita- 
tion and  sectarian  revival  which  character- 
ized the  first  quarter  of  the  last  century, 
reached  the  home  of  the  Smiths,   Joseph 


8  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

\\ith  others  of  the  family  was  profoundly 
affected.  The  household  became  somewhat 
di^^ded  on  the  subject  of  religion,  and  some 
of  the  members  identified  themselves  with 
the  most  popular  sects;  but  Joseph,  while 
favorably  impressed  by  the  Methodist  sect 
in  comparison  vdth.  others,  confesses  that 
his  mind  was  sorely  troubled  over  the  con- 
templation of  the  strife  and  tumult  exist- 
ing among  the  reUgious  bodies;  and  he  hesi- 
tated. He  tried  in  vain  to  solve  the  mys- 
tery presented  to  him  in  the  warring  fac- 
tions of  what  professed  to  be  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Surely,  thought  he,  these  several 
churches,  opposed  as  they  are  to  one  an- 
other on  what  appear  to  be  the  vital  points 
of  religion,  cannot  all  be  right.  While 
puzzling  over  this  anomaly  he  chanced 
upon  this  verse  of  the  epistle  of  St.  James: 

"If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom  let  him  ask  of 
God,  that  giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and 
upbraideth  not;  and  it  shall  be  given  him." 

In  common  with  so  many  others,  the 
earnest  youth  found  here  within  the  scrip- 
tures, admonition  and  counsel  as  directly 
applicable  to  his  case  and  circumstances  as 
if  the  Hnes  had  been  addressed  to  him  by 
uame.  A  brief  period  of  hesitation,  in 
which  he  shrank  from  the  thought  that  a 
mortal   Hke   himself,   weak,   youthful,    and 


THE  STORY  OF  "MORMONISM."  9 

unlearned,  should  approach  the  Creator 
with  a  personal  request,  was  followed  by  a 
humble  and  contrite  resolve  to  act  upon  the 
counsel  of  the  ancient  apostle.  The  result, 
to  which  he  bore  solemn  record  (testifying 
at  first  with  the  simplicity  and  enthusiasm 
of  youth,  afterward  confirming  the  declara- 
tion ^dth  manhood's  increasing  powers,  and 
at  last  voluntarily  sealing  the  testimony 
with  his  life's  blood),  proved  most  startHng 
to  the  sectarian  world — a  world  in  which 
according  to  popular  belief  no  new  revela- 
tion of  truth  is  possible.  It  is  a  surprising 
fact  that  while  growth,  progress,  advance- 
ment, development  of  known  truths  and 
the  acquisition  of  new  ones,  characterize 
every  living  science,  the  sectarian  world 
has  declared  that  nothing  new  must  be  ex- 
pected from  the  fountain  head  of  wisdom. 
The  testimony  of  this  lad  is,  that  in  re- 
sponse to  his  supplication,  drawn  forth  by 
the  admonition  of  an  inspired  apostle,  he 
received  a  di\dne  ministration;  heavenly 
beings  manifested  themselves  to  him — 
two,  clothed  in  purity,  and  aUke  in  form 
and  feature.  Pointing  to  the  other,  one 
said,  'This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  him." 
In  answer  to  the  lad's  prayer,  the  heavenly 
personage  so  designated  informed  Joseph 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelt  not  vvith  war- 


10  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

ring  sects,  which,  while  professing  a  form 
of  gocUiness,  denied  the  power  thereof,  and 
that  he  should  join  none  of  them.  Over- 
joyed at  the  glorious  manifestation  thus 
granted  unto  him,  the  boy  prophet  could 
not  -withhold  from  relatives  and  aquaint- 
ances  the  tidings  of  the  heavenly  vision. 
From  the  ministers,  who  had  been  so  ener- 
getic in  their  efforts  to  convert  the  boy,  he 
received,  to  his  surprise,  the  greatest  abuse 
and  the  utmost  ridicule.  ''Visions  and 
manifestations  from  God,"  said  they,  ''are 
of  the  past,  and  all  such  things  ceased  with 
the  apostles  of  old;  the  canon  of  scripture 
is  full;  religion  has  reached  its  perfection 
in  plan,  and,  unlike  all  other  systems  con- 
trived or  accepted  by  human  kind,  is  in- 
capable of  development  or  growth.  It  is 
true  God  Hves,  but  he  cares  not  for  His 
children  of  modern  times  as  He  did  for 
those  of  ancient  days;  He  has  shut  Himself 
away  from  the  people,  closed  the  windows 
of  heaven,  and  has  suspended  all  direct 
communication  with  the  people  of  earth." 
The  persecution  thus  originating  %\ith 
those  who  called  themselves  ministers  of 
Christ  spread  throughout  the  community; 
and  the  sects  that  before  could  not  agree 
together  nor  abide  in  peace  for  a  day,  be- 
came as  one  in  their  efforts  to  oppose  the 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  11 

youth  who  thus  testified  of  facts,  which 
though  vehemently  denounced,  produced  an 
effect  that  alarmed  them  the  more.  And 
such  a  spectacle  has  ofttimes  presented 
itself  before  the  world — men  who  cannot 
tolerate  one  another  in  peace  swear  fidelity 
and  mutual  support  in  strife  with  a  common 
opponent.  The  importance  of  this  alleged 
revelation  from  the  heavens  to  the  earth  is 
such  as  to  demand  attentive  consideration. 
If  a  fact,  it  is  a  full  contradiction  of  the 
vague  theories  that  had  been  increasing 
and  accumulating  for  centuries,  denying 
personality  and  parts  to  Deity. 

In  1820,  there  lived  one  person  who  knew 
that  the  word  of  the  Creator,  ''Let  us  make 
man  in  our  own  image,  after  our  likeness," 
had  a  meaning  more  than  in  metaphor. 
Joseph  Smith,  the  youthful  prophet  and 
revelator  of  the  nineteenth  century,  knew 
that  the  Eternal  Father  and  the  well- 
beloved  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  were  in  form  and 
stature  Hke  unto  perfect  men;  and  that  the 
human  family  was  in  very  truth  of  Di\dne 
descent.  But  this  wonderful  \dsion  was  not 
the  only  manifestation  of  celestial  power 
and  personality  made  to  the  young  man, 
nor  the  only  incident  of  the  kind  destined 
to  bring  upon  him  the  fury  of  persecution. 
Sometime  after  this  \asitation,  which  con- 


12  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

stituted  him  a  li^dng  witness  of  God  unto 
men,  and  which  demonstrated  the  great 
fact  that  humanity  is  the  child  of  Deity,  he 
was  visited  by  an  immortal  personage  who 
announced  himself  as  Moroni,  a  messenger 
sent  from  the  presence  of  God.  The  celes- 
tial visitor  stated  that  through  Joseph  as 
the  earthly  agent  the  Lord  would  accom- 
plish a  great  work,  and  that  the  boy  would 
come  to  be  known  by  good  and  evil  repute 
amongst  all  nations.  The  angel  then  an- 
nounced that  an  ancient  record,  engraven 
on  plates  of  gold,  lay  hidden  in  a  hill  near 
by,  which  record  gave  a  history  of  the  na- 
tions that  had  of  old  inliabited  the  Ameri- 
can continent,  and  an  account  of  the  Sav- 
ior's ministrations  among  them.  He  fur- 
ther explained  that  with  the  plates  were 
two  sacred  stones,  known  as  Urim  and 
Thummim,  by  the  use  of  which  the  Lord 
would  bring  forth  a  translation  of  the  ancient 
record.  Joseph  further  testifies  that  he  was 
told  that  if  he  remained  faithful  to  his  trust 
and  the  confidence  reposed  in  him,  he  would 
some  day  receive  the  record  into  his  keeping, 
and  be  commissioned  and  empowered  to 
translate  it.  In  due  time  these  promises 
were  literally  fulfilled,  and  the  modern  ver- 
sion of  these  ancient  writings  was  given  to 
the  world. 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  13 

The  record  proved  to  be  an  account  of 
certain  colonies  of  immigrants  to  this  hemi- 
sphere from  the  east,  who  came  several  cent- 
uries before  the  Christian  era.  The  principal 
company  was  led  by  one  Lehi,  described  as  a 
personage  of  some  importance  and  wealth, 
who  had  formerly  hved  at  Jerusalem  in  the 
reign  of  Zedekiah,  and  who  left  his  eastern 
home  about  600  b.  c.  The  book  tells  of  the 
journeyings  across  the  water  in  vessels 
constructed  accorcUng  to  revealed  plan,  of 
the  peoples'  landing  on  the  western  shores 
of  South  America  probably  somewhere  in 
Chile,  of  their  prosperity  and  rapid  growth 
amid  the  bounteous  elements  of  the  new 
world,  of  the  increase  of  pride  and  conse- 
quent dissension  accompanying  the  accu- 
mulation of  material  wealth,  and  of  the 
division  of  the  people  into  factions  which 
became  later  two  great  nations  at  enmity 
with  each  other.  One  part  foUomng  Nephi, 
the  youngest  but  most  gifted  son  of  Lehi, 
designated  themselves  Nephites;  and  the 
other  faction,  led  by  Laman,  the  elder  and 
wicked  brother  of  Nephi,  were  known  as 
Lamanites. 

The  Nephites  lived  in  cities,  some  of 
which  attained  great  size  and  were  distin- 
guished by  singular  architectural  beauty. 
Continually  advancing  northward,  these  pec- 


14  THE  STORY  OF  ''MORMONISM. 

pie  soon  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the 
valleys  of  the  Orinoco,  the  Amazon,  and  the 
Magdalena.  During  the  thousand  years 
covered  by  the  Nephite  record,  the  people 
crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  which  is 
graphically  described  as  a  neck  of  land  but 
a  day's  journey  from  sea  to  sea,  and  occu- 
pied successively  extensive  tracts  in  what 
is  now  Mexico,  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Eastern  States.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  these  vast  regions  were  all 
populated  at  any  one  time  by  the  Nephites; 
the  people  were  continually  moving  to  es- 
cape the  depredations  of  their  hereditary 
foes,  the  Lamanites;  and  they  abandoned  in 
turn  all  their  cities  established  along  the 
course  of  migration.  The  unprejudiced  stu- 
dent sees  in  the  discoveries  of  the  ancient  and 
now  forest-covered  cities  of  Mexico,  Central 
America,  Yucatan,  and  the  northern  regions 
of  South  America,  collateral  testimony  hav- 
ing a  bearing  upon  this  history. 

Before  their  more  powerful  foes,  the 
Nephites  dwindled  and  fled;  until  about  the 
year  400  a.  d.  they  were  entirely  anni- 
hilated after  a  series  of  decisive  battles, 
the  last  of  which  was  fought  near  the  very 
hill,  called  Cumorah,  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  where  the  hidden  record  was  subse- 
quently revealed  to  Joseph  Smith. 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  15 

The  Lamanites  led  a  roving,  aggressive 
life;  kept  few  or  no  records,  and  soon  lost 
the  art  of  history  writing.  They  lived  on  the 
results  of  the  chase  and  by  plunder,  degener- 
ating in  habit  until  they  became  typical  pro- 
genitors of  the  dark-skinned  race,  afterward 
discovered  by  Columbus  and  named  Indians. 

The  last  writer  in  the  ancient  record,  and 
the  one  who  hid  away  the  plates  in  the  hill 
Cumorah,  w^as  Moroni — the  same  personage 
who  appeared  as  a  resurrected  being  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  a  divinely  appointed 
messenger  sent  to  reveal  the  depository  of 
the  sacred  documents;  but  the  greater  part 
of  the  plates  since  translated  had  been  en- 
graved by  the  father  of  Moroni,  the  Nephite 
prophet  Mormon.  This  man,  at  once  war- 
rior, prophet  and  historian,  had  made  a 
transcript  and  compilation  of  the  hetero- 
geneous records  that  had  accumulated  dur- 
ing the  troubled  history  of  the  Nephite 
nation;  this  compilation  was  named  on  the 
plates  'The  Book  of  Mormon,"  which  name 
has  been  given  to  the  modern  translation — 
a  work  that  has  already  made  its  way  over 
most  of  the  civihzed  world.  The  translation 
and  pubhcation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
were  marked  by  many  scenes  of  trouble 
and  contention,   but  success  attended  the 


16  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMOXISM." 

undertaking,   and  the  first   edition  of  the 
work  appeared  in  print  in  1S30. 

The  question,  ''What  is  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon?"-a  very  pertinent  one  on  the  part  of 
every  earnest  student  and  investigator  of 
this  phase  of  American  history — has  been 
partly  answered  already.  The  work  has 
been  derisively  called  the  ''Mormon  Bible," 
a  name  that  carries  with  it  the  misrepre- 
sentation that  in  the  faith  of  this  people  the 
book  takes  the  place  of  the  scriptural  volume 
which  is  universally  accepted  by  Christian 
sects.  No  designation  could  be  more  mis- 
leading, and  in  every  way  more  untruthful. 
The  Latter-day  Saints  have  but  one  ''Bible" 
and  that  the  Holy  Bible  of  Christendom. 
They  place  it  foremost  amongst  the  stand- 
ard works  of  the  Church;  they  accept  its 
admonitions  and  its  doctrines,  and  accord 
thereto  a  literal  significance;  it  is  to  them, 
and  ever  has  been,  the  word  of  God,  a  com- 
pilation made  by  human  agency  of  works 
by  various  inspired  writers;  they  accept  its 
teachings  in  fulness,  modifpng  the  meaning 
in  nomse,  except  in  the  rare  cases  of  un- 
doubted mistranslation,  concerning  which 
BibUcal  scholars  of  all  faiths  differ  arid  criti- 
cise; and  even  in  such  cases  their  reverence 
for  the  sacred  letter  renders  them  even  more 
conservative    than    the"  majority   of  Bible 


•MORMONISM."  17 

commentators  and  critics  in  placing  free 
construction  upon  the  text.  The  historical 
part  of  the  Je\v^sh  scriptures  tells  of  the  di- 
\dne  deahngs  with  the  people  of  the  eastern 
hemisphere;  the  Book  of  Mormon  recounts 
the  mercies  and  judgments  of  God,  the  in- 
spired teachings  of  His  prophets,  the  rise 
and  fall  of  His  people  as  organized  com- 
munities on  the  Vv^estern  continent. 

The  Latter-day  Saints  believe  the  coming 
forth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  to  have  been 
foretold  in  the  Bible,  as  its  destiny  is  prophe- 
sied of  within  its  own  hds ;  it  is  to  the  people 
the  true  "stick  of  Ephraim"  which  Ezekiel 
declared  should  become  one  mth  the  "stick 
of  Judah" — or  the  Bible.  The  people  chal- 
lenge the  most  critical  comparison  between 
this  record  of  the  west  and  the  holy 
scriptures  of  the  east,  feeling  confident 
that  no  discrepancy  exists  in  letter  or  spirit. 
As  to  the  original  characters  in  which  the 
record  was  engraved,  copies  were  shown  to 
learned  linguists  of  the  day,  and  pronounced 
by  them  as  closely  resembhng  the  Reformed 
Egyptian  writing. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  was  before  the 
world;  the  Church  circulated  the  work  as 
freely  as  possible.  The  true  account  of  its 
origin  was  rejected  by  the  general  public, 
who  thus  assumed  the  responsibihty  of  ex- 


18  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMOXISM." 

plaining  in  some  plausible  way  the  source 
of  the  record.  Among  the  many  false 
theories  propounded,  perhaps  the  most 
famous  is  the  so-called  Spaulding  story. 
Solomon  Spaulding,  a  clergyman  of  Amity, 
Pennsylvania,  died  in  1816.  He  wrote  a 
romance  to  which  no  name  other  than 
''Manuscript  Story"  was  given,  and  which, 
but  for  the  unauthorized  use  of  the  writer's 
name  and  the  misrepresentation  of  his 
motives,  would  never  have  been  published. 
Twenty  years  after  the  author's  death,  one 
Hurlburt,  an  apostate  ''Mormon,"  announ- 
ced a  resemblance  between  the  "Story"  and 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  expressed  a  behef 
that  the  work  brought  forward  by  Joseph 
Smith  was  nothing  but  the  Spaulding  ro- 
mance re^dsed  and  amplified.  The  apparent 
credibility  of  the  statement  was  increased  by 
various  signed  declarations  to  the  effect 
that  the  two  were  alike,  though  no  extracts 
for  comparison  were  presented.  But  the 
"Manuscript  Story"  was  lost  for  a  time,  and 
in  the  absence  of  proof  to  the  contrary,  re- 
ports of  the  paralleHsm  between  the  two 
works  multiphed.  By  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance, in  1884,  President  James  H.  Fair- 
child,  of  Oberhn  College,  and  a  literary 
friend  of  his — a  Mr.  Rice — while  exam- 
ining   a    heterogeneous    collection    of    old 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  19 

papers  which  had  been  purchased  by  Mr. 
Rice,  found  the  original  story. 

After  a  careful  perusal  and  comparison 
with  the  Book  of  Mormon,  President  Fair- 
child  declared  in  an  article  in  the  New  York 
Observer,  February  5,  1885: 

The  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon in  the  traditional  manuscript  of  Solomon 
Spaulding  will  probably  have  to  be  relinquished. 
*  *  *  Mr.  Rice,  myself,  and  others  compared 
it  [the  Spaulding  manuscript]  with  the  Book  of 
Mormon  and  could  detect  no  resemblance  be- 
tween the  two,  in  general  or  in  detail.  There 
seems  to  be  no  name  nor  incident  common  to  the 
two.  The  solemn  style  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
in  imitation  of  the  English  scriptures  does  not  ap- 
pear in  the  manuscript.  *  *  *  Some  other 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
must  be  found  if  any  explanation  is  required. 

The  manuscript  was  deposited  in  the 
library  of  Oberlin  College  where  it  now 
reposes.  Still,  the  theory  of  the  ''Manu- 
script Found,"  as  Spaulding' s  story  has 
come  to  be  known,  is  occasionally  pressed 
into  service  in  the  cause  of  anti-' 'Mormon" 
zeal,  by  some  whom  we  will  charitably  be- 
heve  to  be  ignorant  of  the  facts  set  forth 
by  President  Fairchild.  A  letter  of  more 
recent  date,  written  by  that  honorable 
gentleman  in  reply  to  an  inquiring  corre- 
spondent, was  published  in  the  Millen- 
nial Star,  Liverpool,  November  3rd,  1898, 
and  is  as  follows: 


20  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMOXISM." 

Oberlin  College,  Ohio, 

October  17,  1895. 

J.  R.  HixDLEY,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir : — We  have  in  our  college  library  an 
original  manuscript  of  Solomon  Spaulding —  un- 
questionably genuine. 

I  found  it  in  1884  in  the  hands  of  Hon.  L.  L. 
Rice,  of  Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Islands.  He  was 
formerly  state  printer  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and 
before  that,  publisher  of  a  paper  in  Painesville 
whose  preceding  publisher  had  visited  Mrs. 
Spaulding  and  obtained  the  manuscript  from 
her.  It  had  lain  among  his  old  papers  forty 
years  or  more,  and  was  brought  out  by  my  ask- 
ing him  to  look  up  anti-slaver}^  documents  among 
his  papers. 

The  manuscript  has  upon  it  the  signatures  of 
several  men  of  Conneaught,  Ohio,  Vv-ho  had 
heard  Spaulding  read  it  and  knew  it  to  be  his. 
No  one  can  see  it  and  question  its  genuineness. 
The  manuscript  has  been  printed  twice,  at  least; 
— once  by  the  Mormons  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
once  by  the  Josephite  ]\Iormons  of  Iowa.  The 
Utah  Mormons  obtained  the  copy  of  Mr.  Rice, 
at  Honolulu,  and  the  Josephites  got  it  of  me 
after  it  came  into  my  possession. 

This  manuscript  is  not  the  original  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon. 

Yours  very  truly, 

James  H.  Fairchild. 


MORMONISM."  21 

The  ''Manuscript  Story"  has  been  pub- 
Hshed  in  full,  and  comparisons  between  the 
same  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  may  be  made 
by  anyone  who  has  a  mind  to  investigate 
the  subject. 


II. 


But  we  have  anticipated  the  current  of 
events.  With  the  publication  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  opposition  grew  more  intense 
toward  the  people  who  professed  a  belief  in 
the  testimony  of  Joseph  Smith.  On  the 
6th  of  April,  1830,  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter-day  Saints  was  formally  organized 
and  thus  took  on  a  legal  existence.  The 
scene  of  this  organization  was  Fayette,  New 
York,  and  but  six  persons  were  directly 
concerned  as  participants.  At  that  time 
there  may  have  been  and  probably  were 
many  times  that  number  who  had  professed 
adherence  to  the  newly  restored  faith;  but 
as  the  requirements  of  the  law  governing 
the  formation  of  religious  societies  were 
satisfied  by  the  application  of  six,  only  the 
specified  number  formally  took  part.  Such 
was  the  beginning  of  the  Church,  soon  to 
be  so  universally  maligned.  Its  origin  was 
small — a  germ,  an  insignificant  seed,  little 
calculated  to  arouse  opposition.  What  is 
there  to  fear  in  the  voluntary  association 
of  six  men,  avowedly  devoted  to  peaceful 
pursuits  and  benevolent  purposes?      Yet  the 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  23 

storm  of  persecution  raged  from  the  earliest 
day.  At  first  but  a  family  affair,  opposition 
to  the  work  has  involved  successively  the 
town,  the  county,  the  state,  the  country, 
and  to-day  the  ''Mormon"  question  has  been 
accorded  extended  consideration  at  the 
hands  of  the  national  government,  and  in- 
deed most  ci\dUzed  nations  have  been  forced 
to  take  cognizance  of  the  same. 

Let  us  observe  the  contrast  between  the 
beginning  and  the  present  proportions  of 
the  Church.  Instead  of  but  six  regularly 
affiliated  members,  and  at  most  two  score 
of  adherents,  the  organization  numbers  to- 
day several  hundred  thousand  souls. 
In  place  of  a  single  hamlet,  in  the  smallest 
corner  of  which  the  Saints  could  have  con- 
gregated, there  now  over  sixty  stakes  of 
Zion  and  about  seven  hundred  organized 
wards,  each  ward  and  stake  with  its  full  com- 
plement of  officers  and  priesthood  organiza- 
tions. The  practice  of  gathering  its  prose- 
lytes into  one  place  prevents  the  building  up 
and  strengthening  of  foreign  branches;  and 
inasmuch  as  extensive  and  strong  organiza- 
tions are  seldom  met  with  abroad,  very  erron- 
eous ideas  exist  concerning  the  strength  of 
the  Church.  But  the  mustard  seed,  among 
the  smallest  of  all  seeds,  has  attained  the 
proportions  of  a  tree,  and  the  birds  of  the 


24  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

air  are  nesting  in  its  branches;  the  acorn  is 
now  an  oak  offering  protection  and  the 
sweets  of  satisfaction  to  every  earnest  pil- 
grim journeying  its  way  for  truth. 

From  the  organization  of  the  Church,  the 
spirit  of  emigration  rested  upon  the  people. 
Their  eyes  were  from  the  first  turned  in  an- 
ticipation tov>'ard  the  evening  sun — not 
merely  that  the  work  of  proselyting  should 
be  carried  on  in  the  west,  but  that  the 
headquarters  of  the  Church  should  be  there 
estabhshed.  The  Book  of  Mormon  had 
taught  the  people  the  true  origin  of,  and 
had  shown  them  indeed  part  of  the  destiny 
of,  the  Indians,  and  to  this  dark-skinned 
remnant  of  a  once  mighty  people,  the  mis- 
sionaries of  "Mormonism"  early  turned 
their  eyes,  and  ^\ith  their  eyes  went  their 
hearts  and  their  hopes. 

Within  three  months  from  the  beginning, 
the  Church  had  missionaries  among  the 
Lamanites.  It  is  notable  that  the  Indian 
tribes  have  always  regarded  the  reUgion  of 
the  Latter-day  Saints  with  favor,  seeing  in 
the  Book  of  Mormon  striking  agreement 
with,  their  own  traditions. 

The  first  full}^  estabhshed  seat  of  the 
Church',  was  in  the  pretty  Httle  town  of 
Kirtland,  Ohio,  almost  Vvithin  sight  of  Lake 
Erie;  and  here  soon  rose  the  first  temple  of 


THE -STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  25 

modern  times.  Among  their  many  other 
pecuHarities,  the  Latter-day  Saints  are 
characterized  as  a  temple-building  people, 
as  they  say  history  proves  the  Israel  of  an- 
cient times  to  have  been.  And  in  the  days 
of  their  infancy  as  a  Church,  while  in  the 
thrall  of  poverty,  and  amidst  the  persecu- 
tion and  direful  threats  of  lawless  hordes, 
they  laid  the  cornerstone,  and  in  less  than 
three  years  thereafter  they  celebrated  the 
dedication  of  the  Kirtland  temple,  a  struc- 
ture at  once  beautiful  and  imposing.  But 
even  before  this  time,  populous  settlements 
of  the  Saints  had  been  made  in  Jackson 
County,  Missouri;  and  in  the  town  of  Inde- 
pendence a  site  for  the  great  temple  had 
been  selected  and  purchased,  but  though 
the  ground  has  been  dedicated  and  the 
corner-stone  laid,  the  people  have  not  as  yet 
built  thereon. 

Within  two  years  of  its  decUcation,  the 
temple  in  Kirtland  was  abandoned  by  the 
people,  who  were  compelled  to  flee  for  their 
lives  before  the  rage  of  mobocrats;  but  a 
second  temple,  larger  and  more  beautiful 
than  the  first,  soon  reared  its  spires  from 
the  city  of  Nauvoo,  Illinois.  This  structure 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  but  the  temple- 
building  spirit  was  not  to  be  quenched,  and 
in  the  vales  of  Utah  to-day  are  four  magnifi- 


cent  temple  edifices.  The  last  completed, 
which  was  the  first  begun,  is  situated  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  is  one  of  the  wonders 
and  beauties  of  that  city  by  the  great  salt 
sea. 

To  the  fervent  Latter-day  Saint,  a  temple 
is  not  simply  a  church  building,  a  house  for 
religious  assembly.  Indeed  the  "Mormon" 
temples  are  rarely  used  as  places  of  general 
gatherings.  They  are  in  one  sense  educa- 
tional institutions,  regular  courses  of  lec- 
tures and  instruction  being  maintained  in 
some  of  them;  but  they  are  specifically  for 
baptisms  and  ordinations,  for  sanctifpng 
prayer,  and  for  the  most  sacred  ceremonies 
and  rites  of  the  Church,  particularly  in  the 
\^carious  work  for  the  dead  which  is  a  char- 
acteristic of  '^Mormon"  faith.  And  who 
that  has  gazed  upon  these  palaces  of  praise 
can  say  that  the  people  who  can  do  so  much 
in  poverty  and  tribulation  are  insincere? 
Bigoted  they  may  seem  to  those  who  be- 
lieve not  as  they  do;  fanatics  they  may  be  to 
multitudes  who  Hke  one  of  old  thank  God 
they  are  not  as  these;  but  insincere  they 
cannot  be,  even  in  the  judgment  of  their 
bitterest  foe,  if  he  be  a  creature  of  reason. 

The  clouds  of  persecution  thickened  in  Ohio 
as  the  intolerant  zeal  of  mobs  found  frequent 
expression;    numerous    charges,  trivial  and 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  27 

serious,  were  made  against  the  leaders  of  the 
Church,  and  they  were  repeatedly  brought 
before  the  courts,  only  to  be  liberated  on 
the  usual  finding  of  no  cause  for  action.  And 
the  march  to  the  west  w^as  maintained. 
Soon  thousands  of  converts  had  rented  or 
purchased  homes  in  Missouri — Independ- 
ence, Jackson  County,  being  their  centre; 
but  from  the  first,  they  were  unpopular 
among  the  Missourians.  Their  system  of 
equal  rights  with  their  marked  disapproval 
of  every  species  of  aristocratic  separation 
and  self-aggrandizement  was  declared  to  be 
a  species  of  communism,  dangerous  to  the 
state.  An  inoffensive  journalistic  organ.  The 
Star,  published  for  the  purpose  of  prop- 
erly presenting  the  religious  tenets  of  hte 
people,  was  made  the  particular  object  of 
the  mob's  rage;  the  house  of  its  publisher 
was  razed  to  the  ground,  the  press  and  type 
were  confiscated,  and  the  editor  and  his  fam- 
ily maltreated.  An  absurd  story  was  circu- 
lated and  took  firm  hold  of  the  masses  that 
the  Book  of  Mormon  promised  the  w^estern 
lands  to  the  people  of  the  Church,  and  that 
they  intended  to  take  possession  of  these 
lands  by  force.  Throughout  the  book  of 
revelations,  regarded  by  the  people  as  law 
specially  directed  to  them,  they  are  told  to 
save  their  riches  that  they  may  purchase 


28  THE  STORY  OF  "mORMOXISM." 

the  inheritance  promised  them  of  God. 
Ever3'where  are  they  told  to  maintain 
peace;  the  sword  is  never  offered  as  their 
symbol  of  conquest.  Their  gathering  is  to 
be  Hke  that  of  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem — a 
pacific  one,  and  in  their  taking  possession 
of  what  they  regard  as  a  land  of  promise, 
no  one  previously  located  there  shall  be 
denied  his  rights. 

A  spirit  of  fierce  persecution  raged  in 
Jackson  and  surrounding  counties  of  Mis- 
souri. An  appeal  was  made  to  the  executive 
of  the  state,  but  little  encouragement  was 
returned.  The  Heutenant-governor,  Lil- 
burn  W.  Boggs,  afterward  governor,  was  a 
pronounced  '*Mormon"-hater,  and  through- 
out the  period  of  the  troubles,  he  mani- 
fested sympathy  with  the  persecutors. 

One  of  the  circuit  judges  who  was  asked 
to  issue  a  peace  warrant  refused  to  do  so, 
but  advised  the  ''Mormons''  to  arm  them- 
selves and  meet  the  force  of  the  outlaws 
■Rith  organized  resistance.  This  advice  was 
not  pleasing  to  the  Saints,  whose  religion 
enjoined  tolerance  and  peace;  but  they  so 
far  heeded  it  as  to  arm  a  small  force;  ;;and 
when  the  outlaws  next  came  upon  them,  the 
people  were  not  entirely  unprepared.  A 
"Mormon  "rebellion  was  now  proclaimed. 
The  people  had  been  goaded  to  desperation. 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM.'^  29 

The  militia  was  ordered  out,  and  the  ''Mor- 
mons" were  disarmed.  The  mob  took  re- 
venge. The  ''Mormons''  engaged  able  law- 
yers to  institute  and  maintain  legal  pro- 
ceedings against  their  foes,  and  this  step,  the 
right  to  which  we  would  think  could  be 
denied  no  American  citizen,  called  forth 
such  an  explosion  of  popular  wrath  as  to 
affect  almost  the  entire  state. 

It  was  \^dnter;  but  the  inclemency  of  the 
year  only  suited  the  better  the  purpose  of 
the  oppressor.  Homes  were  destroyed, 
men  torn  from  their  families  were  brutally 
beaten,  tarred  and  feathered;  women  with 
babes  in  their  arms  were  forced  to  flee  half- 
clad  into  the  soUtude  of  the  prairie  to  es- 
cape from  mobocratic  violence.  Their 
sufferings  have  never  yet  been  chronicled 
by  human  scribe.  Malang  their  way  across 
the  river,  most  of  the  refugees  found  shel- 
ter among  the  more  hospitable  people  of 
Clay  County,  and  afterward  established 
themselves  in  Caldwell  County,  therein 
founding  the  city  of  Far  West.  County 
and  state  judges,  the  governor,  and  even 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  were  ap- 
pealed to  in  turn  for  redress.  The  national 
executive,  Andrew  Jackson,  while  express- 
ing sympathy  for  the  persecuted  people, 
deplored  his  lack  of  power  to  interfere  with 


30  THE  STORY  OF 

the  administration  or  non-administration  of 
state  laws;  the  national  officials  could  do 
nothing;  the  state  officials  would  do  nought. 
But  the  expulsion  from  Jackson  County 
was  but  a  prelude  to  the  tragedy  soon  to 
follow.  A  single  scene  of  the  bloody  drama 
is  known  as  the  Haun's  Mill  massacre.  A 
small  settlement  had  been  founded  by 
' 'Mormon"  families  on  Shoal  Creek,  and 
here  on  the  30th  of  October,  1838,  a  company 
of  two  hundred  and  forty  fell  upon  the  hap- 
less settlers  and  butchered  a  score.  No 
respect  was  paid  to  age  or  sex;  grey  heads, 
and  infant  hps  that  scarce  had  learned  to 
Hsp  a  word,  \'igorous  manhood  and  imma- 
ture youth,  mother  and  maiden,  fared  alike 
in  the  scene  of  carnage,  and  their  bodies 
were  thrown  into  an  old  well. 
r^In  October,  1838,  the  Governor  of  Mis- 
souri, the  same  Lilburn  W.  Boggs,  issued  his 
infamous  exterminating  order,  and  called 
upon  the  miUtia  of  the  state  to  execute  it. 
The  language  of  thisj  document,  signed  by 
the  executive  of  a  sovereign  state  of  the 
Union,  declared  that  the  "^lormons"  must 
be  driven  from  the  state  or  exterminated. 
Be  it  said  to  the  honor  of  some  of  the  officers 
entrusted  with  the  terrible  commission, 
that  as  they  learned  its  true  significance 
they  resigned  their  authority  rather  than 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  31 

have  anything  to  do  \vith  what  they  desig- 
nated a  cold-blooded  butchery.  But  tools 
were  not  wanting,  as  indeed  they  never 
have  been,  for  murder  and  its  kindred 
outrages.  What  the  heart  of  man  can  con- 
ceive, the  hand  of  man  will  find  a  way  to 
execute.  The  awful  work  was  carried  out 
with  dread  dispatch.  Oh,  what  a  record  to 
read;  what  a  picture  to  gaze  upon;  how 
a^iful  the  fact! — an  official  edict  offering 
expatriation  or  death  to  a  peaceable  com- 
munity ^dth  no  crime  proved  against  them, 
and  guilty  of  no  offence  other  than  that  of 
choosing  to  differ  in  opinion  from  the 
masses.  American  school  boys  read  with 
emotions  of  horror  of  the  Albigenses,  driven, 
beaten  and  killed,  with  a  pope's  legate 
directing  the  butchery;  and  of  the  Vaudois, 
hunted  and  hounded  like  beasts  as  the 
effect  of  a  royal  decree;  and  they  yet  shall 
read  in  the  history  of  their  own  country  of 
scenes  as  terrible  as  these  in  the  exhibition 
of  injustice  and  inhuman  hate. 

In  the  dread  alternative  offered  them,  the 
Saints  determined  again  to  abandon  their 
homes;  but  whither  should  they  go?  Al- 
ready they  had  fled  before  the  lawless  op- 
pressor over  well  nigh  half  a  continent; 
already  were  they  on  the  frontiers  of  the 
country  that  they  had  regarded  as  the  land  of 


32  THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM." 

promised  liberty.  Thus  far  every  move  had 
carried  them  westward,  but  farther  west 
they  could  not  go  unless  they  went  entirely 
beyond  the  land  of  their  birth,  and  gave  up 
their  hope  of  protection  under  the  Constitu- 
tion, which  to  them  had  ever  been  an  in- 
spired instrument,  the  majesty  of  which,  as 
they  had  never  doubted,  would  be  some 
day  vindicated,  even  to  giving  them  the 
rights  of  American  citizens.  This  time  their 
faces  were  turned  toward  the  east;  and  a 
host  numbering  from  ten  to  twelve  thou- 
sand, including  man}^  women  and  children, 
abandoned  their  homes  and  fled  before  their 
murderous  pursuers,  reddening  the  snow 
with  bloody  footprints  as  they  journeyed. 
They  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  sought 
protection  on  the  soil  of  lUinois.  There 
their  sad  condition  evoked  for  a  time  gener- 
al commiseration. 

The  press  of  the  state  denounced  the 
treatment  of  the  people  by  the  Missourians 
and  vindicated  the  character  of  the  ' 'Mor- 
mons" as  peaceable  and  law-abiding  citizens. 
College  professors  published  expressions  of 
their  horror  over  the  godless  crusade;  state 
officials,  including  even  the  governor,  gave 
substantial  evidence  of  their  sympathy  and 
good  feeling.  This  lull  in  the  storm  of  out- 
rage that  had  so   long  raged  about  them 


33 


offered  a  strange  contrast  to  their  usual 
treatment.  Let  it  not  be  thought  that  all 
the  people  of  lUinois  were  their  friends; 
from  the  first,  opposition  was  manifest,  but 
their  condition  was  so  greatly  bettered  that 
they  might  have  thought  the  advent  of 
their  Zion  to  be  near  at  hand. 

I  stated  that  professional  men,  and  even 
college  professors  raised  their  voices  in 
commiseration  of  the  ''Mormon"  situation 
and  in  denouncing  the  ''Mormon"  oppres- 
sors.    Prof.  Turner  of  Illinois  College  wrote: 

Who  began  the  quarrel?  Was  it  the  "Mor- 
mons?" Is  it  not  notorious  on  the  contrary 
that  they  were  hunted  like  wild  beasts  from 
county  to  county  before  they  made  any  resist- 
ance? Did  they  ever,  as  a  body,  refuse  obed- 
ience to  the  laws,  when  called  upon  to  do  so,  un- 
til driven  to  desperation  by  repeated  threats 
and  assaults  by  the  mob?  Did  the  state  ever 
make  one  decent  effort  to  defend  them  as  fellow- 
citizens  in  their  rights  or  to  redress  their  wrongs? 
Let  the  conduct  of  its  governors  and  attorneys 
and  the  fate  of  their  final  petitions  answer! 
Have  any  who  plundered  and  openly  insulted 
the  "Mormons"  ever  been  brought  to  the  pun- 
ishment due  to  their  crimes?  Let  boasting  mur- 
derers of  begging  and  helpless  infancy  answer! 
Has  the  state  ever  remunerated  even  those 
known  to  be  innocent  for  the  loss  of  either  their 
property  or  their  arms?  Did  either  the  pulpit 
or  the  press  through  the  state  raise  a  note  of  re- 
monstrance or  alarm?     Let  the  clergymen  who 


34  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

abetted  and  the  editors  who  encouraged  the  mob 
answer! 

As  a  sample  of  the  press  comments  against 
the  brutality  of  the  Missourians  I  quote  a 
paragraph  from  the  Quincy  Argus,  March 
16,  1839: 

We  have  no  language  sufficiently  strong  for 
the  expression  of  our  indignation  and  shame  at 
the  recent  transaction  in  a  sister  state,  and  that 
state,  Missouri,  a  state  of  which  vv-e  had  long 
been  proud,  alike  for  her  men  and  history,  but 
now  so  fallen  that  we  could  wish  her  star  stricken 
from  the  bright  constellation  of  the  Union.  We 
say  we  know  of  no  language  sufficiently  strong 
for  the  expression  of  our  shame  and  abhorrence 
of  her  recent  conduct.  She  has  written  her  own 
character  in  letters  of  blood,  and  stained  it  by 
acts  of  merciless  cruelty  and  brutality  that  the 
waters  of  ages  cannot  efface.  It  will  be  observed 
that  an  organized  mob,  aided  by  many  of  the 
civil  and  miHtar\^  officers  of  IMissouri,  with  Gov. 
Boggs  at  their  head,  have  been  the  prominent 
actors  in  this  business,  incited  too,  it  appears, 
against  the  "Mormons"  by  political  hatred, 
and  by  the  additional  motives  of  plunder  and 
revenge.  They  have  but  too  well  put  in  exe- 
cution their  threats  of  extermination  and  ex- 
pulsion, and  fully  wreaked  their  vengeance 
on  a  body  of  industrious  and  enterprising 
men,  who  had  never  wronged  nor  wished  to 
wrong  them,  but  on  the  contrary  had  ever  com- 
ported themselves  as  good  and  honest  citizens, 
living  under  the  same  laws,  and  having  the  same 
right  with  themselves  to  the  sacred  immunities 
of^life,  liberty  and  property. 


III. 


Settling  in  and  about  the  obscure  village 
of  Commerce,  the  ''Mormon"  refugees  soon 
demonstrated  anew  the  marvelous  recuper- 
active  power  with  which  they  were  endowed, 
and  a  city  seemed  to  spring  from  the  earth. 
Nauvoo — the  City  Beautiful — was  the  name 
^ven  to  this  new  abiding  place.  It  was 
situated  but  a  few  miles  from  Quincy,  in  a 
bend  of  the  majestic  river,  giving  the  town 
three  water  fronts.  It  seemed  to  nestle 
there  as  if  the  Father  of  Waters  was  encir- 
cling it  with  his  mighty  arm.  Soon  a  glorious 
temple  crowned  the  hill  up  which  the  city 
had  run  in  its  rapid  growth.  Their  settle- 
ments extended  into  Iowa,  then  a  territory. 
Governor  Lucas,  the  chief  executive  of  Iowa, 
and  later  a  governor  of  Ohio,  both  testified 
to  their  worthiness  as  citizens,  and  pledged 
them  the  protection  of  the  commonwealth. 
The  city  of  Nauvoo  was  chartered  by  the 
state  of  IlUnois,  and  the  rights  of  local  self- 
government    were   assured   to   its    citizens. 

A  military  organization,  the  "Nauvoo 
Legion,"  was  authorized,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  university  was  provided  for; 


36  THE  STORY  OF 

both  these  organizations  were  successfully 
effected.  It  was  here  that  a  memorial  was 
prepared  and  sent  to  the  national  govern- 
ment, reciting  the  outrages  of  Missouri,  and 
asking  reparation.  Joseph  Smith  himself, 
the  head  of  the  delegation,  had  a  personal 
interview  ^\dth  President  Van  Buren,  in 
which  the  grievances  of  the  Latter-day 
Saints  were  presented.  Van  Buren  replied 
in  words  that  will  not  be  forgotten,  "Your 
cause  is  just,  but  I  can  do  nothing  for  you." 

The  peaceful  conditions  at  first  character- 
istic of  their  Illinois  settlement  were  not  to 
continue.  The  element  of  political  influ- 
ence asserted  itself  and  the  "Mormons" 
bade  fair  to  soon  hold  the  balance  of  power 
in  local  affairs.  The  characteristic  unit}^,  so 
marked  in  connection  with  ever}^  phase  of 
the  people's  existence,  promised  too  much; 
immigration  into  Hancock  county  was  con- 
tinuous, and  the  power  of  the  Saints  seemed 
likely  to  be  soon  of  formidable  proportions. 
With  this  as  the  true  motive,  many  pretexts 
for  annoyance  were  found;  and  arrests, 
trials,  and  acquitals  were  common  experi- 
ences of  the  Church  officers. 

A  charge,  which  promised  to  prove  as 
devoid  of  foundation  as  had  the  excuses  for 
the  jBifty  arrests  preceding  it,  led  Joseph 
Smith,  president  of  the  Church,  and  Hyrum 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  37 

Smith,  the  patriarch,  to  again  surrender 
themselves  to  the  officers  of  the  law.  They 
were  taken  to  Carthage,  Joseph  having  de- 
clared to  friends  his  belief  that  he  was 
going  to  the  slaughter.  Governor  Ford  gave 
to  the  prisoners  his  personal  guarantee  for 
their  safety;  but  mob  violence  was  supreme, 
more  mighty  than  the  power  of  the  state 
militia  placed  there  to  guard  the  prison, 
and  these  men  were  shot  to  death,  even 
while  under  the  governor's  plighted  pledge 
of  protection.  Hyrum  fell  first;  and  Joseph, 
appearing  at  one  of  the  windows  in  the  sec- 
ond story,  received  the  leaden  missiles  of 
the  besieging  mob,  which  was  led  by  a  recre- 
ant though  professed  minister  of  the  gospel. 
But  the  brutish  passion  of  the  mob  was  not 
yet  sated:  propping  the  body  against  a 
well  curb  in  the  jail-yard,  the  murderers 
poured  a  volley  of  bullets  into  the  corpse, 
and  fled.  Thus  was  the  unholy  vow  of  the 
mob  fulfilled,  that  as  law  could  not  touch 
the  ''Mormon"  leaders,  powder  and  ball 
should.  John  Taylor,  who  became  years 
afterward  president  of  the  Church,  was  in 
the  jail  at  the  same  time;  he  received  four 
bullets,  and  was  left  supposedly  dead. 

Joseph  Smith  had  been  more  than  the 
ecclesiastical  leader;  his  presence  and 
personality    had    been    ever    powerful    as 


38  THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM." 

stimuli  in  the  people's  hearts;  none  knew 
his  personal  power  better  than  the  mem- 
bers of  his  own  flock,  unless  indeed  it 
were  the  wolves  who  were  ever  seeking 
to  harry  the  fold.  It  had  been  the  boast  of 
anti-' 'Mormons"  that  with  Joseph  Smith 
removed,  the  Church  would  crumble  to 
pieces  of  itself.  In  the  personaUty  of  their 
leader,  it  was  thought,  lay  the  secret  orthe 
people's  strength;  and  Hke  the  Phihstines, 
the  enemy  struck  at  the  supposed  bond  of 
power.  Terrible  as  was  the  blow  of  the 
fearful  fatality,  the  Church  soon  emerged 
from  its  despairing  state  of  poignant  grief, 
and  rose  in  power  mightier  than  before.  It 
is  the  faith  of  this  people  that  while  the 
work  of  God  on  earth  is  carried  on  by  men, 
yet  mortals  are  but  instruments  in  the 
Creator's  hands  for  the  accomphshment  of 
Divine  purposes.  The  death  of  the  presi- 
dent disorganized  the  First  Presidency  of 
the  Church;  but  the  body  next  in  authority 
stepped  to  the  front,  and  the  progress  of 
the  Church  was  in  no  way  hindered.  The 
work  of  the  ministr}'  was  not  arrested;  the 
people  paused  but  long  enough  to  bury  their 
dead  and  clear  their  eyes  from  the  bhnd- 
ing  tears  that  fell. 

Let  us  take  a  retrospective  glance  at  this 
unusual      man.      Though     his     opponents 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  39 

deny  him  the  divine  commission  with  which 
his  friends  believe  he  was  charged,  they  all, 
friends  and  foes  aUke,  admit  that  he  was  a 
great  man.  By  the  testimony  of  his  Ufe's 
work  and  the  sanctifying  seal  of  his  mar- 
tyrdom, thousands  have  come  to  acknowl- 
edge him  all  that  he  professed  to  be — a 
messenger  from  God  to  the  people.  He  is 
not  without  admirers  among  men  who  deny 
the  truth  of  his  principles  and  the  faith  of 
his  people. 

A  historical  writer  of  the  time,  Josiah 
Quincy,  a  few  weeks  after  the  martyrdom, 
wrote : 

It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  some  future 
text  book  for  the  use  of  generations  yet  unborn, 
will  contain  a  question  something  like  this; 
"Vv''hat  historical  American  of  the  nineteenth 
century  has  exerted  the  most  powerful  influence 
upon  the  destinies  of  his  countrymen?";  and  it 
is  by  no  means  impossible  that  the  answer  to 
that  interrogatory  may  be  thus  written — "Joseph 
Smith,  the  Mormon  Prophet."  And  the  reply, 
absurd  as  it  doubtless  seems  to  most  men  now 
living,  may  be  an  obvious  commonplace  to  their 
descendants.  History  deals  in  surprises  and 
paradoxes  quite  as  startling  as  this.  A  man 
v/ho  established  a  religion  in  this  age  of  free  de- 
bate, who  was  and  is  to-day  accepted  by  hundreds 
of  thousands  as  a  direct  emissary  from  the  Most 
High— such  a  rare  human  being  is  not  to  be  dis- 
posed of  by  pelting  his  memory  with  unsavory 
epithets.     *     *     *     fhe    most    vital    questions 


40  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

Americans  are  asking  each  other  to-day,  have  to 
deal  with  this  man  and  what  he  has  left  us. 
*  *  *  Joseph  Smith,  claiiTiing  to  be  an  in- 
spired teacher,  faced  adversity  such  as  few  men 
have  been  called  to  meet,  enjoyed  a  brief  season 
of  prosperity  such  as  few  men  have  ever  attained, 
and  finally  *  *  *  went  cheerfully  to  a  mar- 
tyr's death.  When  he  surrendered  his  person  to 
Governor  Ford,  in  order  to  prevent  the  shedding 
of  blood,  the  Prophet  had  a  presentiment  of  what 
was  before  him.  "I  am  going  like  a  lamb  to  the 
slaughter,"  he  is  reported  to  have  said,  "but  I 
am  as  calm  as  a  summer's  morning.  I  have  a 
conscience  void  of  offense,  and  shall  die  innocent." 

The  ' 'Mormon"  people  regarded  it  as  a 
duty  to  make  every  proper  effort  to  bring 
the  perpetrators  of  the  foul  assassination  of 
their  leaders  to  justice;  sixty  names  were 
presented  to  the  local  grand  jur}^,  and  of 
the  persons  so  designated,  nine  were  in- 
dicted. After  a  farcical  semblance  of  a 
trial,  these  were  acquitted,  and  thus  was 
notice,  sanctioned  by  the  constituted  author- 
ity of  the  law,  served  upon  all  anti-' 'Mor- 
mons" of  lUinois,  that  they  were  safe  in  any 
assault  they  might  choose  to  make  on  the 
subjects  of  their  hate.  And  the  mob  proved 
to  be  composed  of  apt  pupils  in  the  learning 
of  this  lesson.  Personal  outrages  were  of 
every-day  occurrence;  husbandmen  were 
captured  in  their  fields,  beaten,  tortured, 
until  they  bara  vhyladeiil  tty  left  to  pro- 


41 


mise  compliance  with  the  demands  of  their 
assailants,  \dz:.  that  they  would  leave  the 
state.  Houses  were  fired  while  the  tenants 
were  wrapped  in  uneasy  slumber  within; 
indeed,  one  entire  town,  that  of  Morley, 
was  by  such  incendiarism  reduced  to  ashes. 
Women  and  children  were  aroused  in  the 
night,  and  compelled  to  flee  unclad,  or  per- 
ish in  their  burning  dweUings. 

But  what  of  the  internal  work  of  the 
Church  during  these  trying  periods?  As 
the  winds  of  winter,  the  storms  of  the  year's 
deepest  night,  do  but  harden  and  strengthen 
the  mountain  pine,  whose  roots  strike  the 
deeper,  w^hose  branches  thicken,  whose 
twigs  multiply  by  the  inclemency  that 
would  be  fatal  to  the  exotic  palm,  raised  by 
man  amid  artificial  surroundings,  with  hot- 
house nursing,  so  the  new  sect  continued  its 
growth,  partly  in  spite  of,  partly  because 
of,  the  storms  to  w^hich  it  was  subjected. 
It  was  no  green-house  growth,  struggling 
for  existence  in  a  foreign  clime,  but  a  fit 
plant  for  the  soil  of  a  free  land;  and  there 
existed  in  the  minds  of  unprejudiced  ob- 
servers not  a  doubt  as  to  its  vitality.  The 
Church  soon  found  its  equihbrium  again 
after  the  terrible  shock  of  its  cruel  experi- 
ence. Brigham  Young,  who  for  a  decade 
had  been  identified  with  the  cause,  who  had 


42  THE  STORY  OF 

received  his  full  share  of  persecution  at 
mobocratic  hands,  now  stood  at  the  head 
of  the  presiding  body  in  the  priesthood 
of  the  Church.  The  effect  of  this  man's 
wonderful  personaHty,  his  surprising  natu- 
ral ability,  and  to  the  Saints,  the  proofs  of 
his  di^dne  acceptance,  were  apparent  from 
the  first. 

Migration  from  other  states  and  from 
foreign  shores  continued  to  swell  the  "]\Ior- 
mon"  band  and  this  but  angered  the  op- 
pressors the  more.  The  Saints,  recogniz- 
ing the  ine^itable  long  before  predicted  by 
their  murdered  prophet,  that  the  march  of 
the  Church  would  be  westward  still,  re- 
doubled their  efforts  to  complete  the  grand 
temple  upon  which  they  had  not  ceased  to 
work  through  all  the  storms  of  persecution. 
This  structure,  solemnly  dedicated  to  their 
God,  they  entered,  and  there  received  their 
anointings  and  their  blessings;  then  they 
abandoned  it  to  the  desecration  and  self- 
condemning  outrages  of  their  foes.  For  the 
mob's  decree  had  gone  forth,  that  the  "Mor- 
mons" must  leave  lUinois.  After  a  few  san- 
guinary encounters,  the  leaders  of  the  peo- 
ple acceded  to  the  demands  of  their  assail- 
ants, and  agreed  to  leave  earl}'  in  the  follow- 
ing   spring;    but    the    departure    was    not 


i 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  43 

speedy  enough  to  suit,  and  the  lawless  per- 
secution was  waged  the  more  ruthlessly. 

Soon  the  soil  of  lUinois  was  free  from 
''Mormon"  tread;  Nauvoo  was  deserted,  her 
20,000  inhabitants  expatriated.  Colonel 
Thomas  L.  Kane,  a  conspicuous  figure  at  this 
stage  of  our  country's  history,  was  travehng 
eastward  at  the  time,  and  reached  Nauvoo 
shortly  after  its  evacuation.  In  a  lecture 
before  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  related  his  experience  in  this  some- 
time abode  of  the  Saints.  I  paraphrase  a 
portion  of  his  eloquent  address. 

Sighting  the  city  from  the  western  shore 
of  the  mighty  Mississippi,  as  it  nestled  in  the 
river's  encircHng  embrace,  he  crossed  to  its 
principal  wharf,  and,  there  to  his  surprise, 
found  no  soul  to  meet  him.  The  stillness 
that  everywhere  prevailed  was  painful, 
broken  only  by  an  occasional  faint  echo  of 
boisterous  shout  or  ribald  song  from  a  dis- 
tance. The  town  was  in  a  dream,  and 
the  warrior  trod  hghtly  lest  he  wake  it  in 
affright,  for  he  plainly  saw  that  it  had  not 
slumbered  long.  No  grass  grew  in  the  pave- 
ment joints;  recent  footprints  were  still 
distinct  in  the  dusty  thoroughfares.  The 
visitor  made  his  way  unmolested  into  work- 
shops and  smithies;  the  tools  lay  as  last 
used;  on  the  carpenter's  bench  was  the  un- 


44 


finished  frame,  on  the  floor  were  the  shav- 
ings fresh  and"  odorous;  the  wood  was  piled 
in  readiness  before  the  baker's  oven;  the 
blacksmith's  forge  was  cold,  but  the  shop 
looked  as  though  the  occupant  had  just  gone 
off  for  a  hoUday.  The  soldier  entered 
gardens  unchallenged  by  owner,  human 
guard,  or  watchful  dog;  he  might  have  sup- 
posed the  people  hidden  or  dead  in  their 
houses;  but  the  doors  were  not  fastened, 
and  he  entered  to  explore;  there  were  fresh 
ashes  on  the  hearth;  no  great  accumulation 
of  the  dust  of  time  on  floors  or  furniture; 
the  awful  quiet  compelled  him  to  tread 
a-tip-toe  as  if  threading  the  isles  of  an 
unoccupied  cathedral.  He  hastened  to  the 
graveyard,  though  surely  the  city  had  not 
been  depopulated  b}^  pestilence;  no;  there 
were  a  few  stones  newly  set,  some  sods 
freshly  turned  in  this  sacred  acre  of  God, 
but  where  can  you  find  a  cemetery  of  a  Hving 
town  with  no  such  e^'idence  of  recent  de- 
parture? There  were  fields  of  hea\y  grain, 
the  bounteous  harvest  rotting  on  the 
ground;  there  were  orchards  dropping  their 
plump  and  rosy  fruit  to  spoil  beneath;  not 
a  hand  to  gather  or  save. 

But  in  a  suburban  corner,  he  came  across 
the  smoldering  embers  of  a  barbecue  fire, 
with  fragments  of  flesh  and  other  remnants 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  45 

of  a  feast.  Hereabout  houses  had  been  de- 
molished; and  there  around  the  great  tem- 
ple that  had  first  attracted  his  attention 
from  the  Iowa  shore,  armed  men  were 
bivouacked.  This  worthy  representative 
of  our  country's  service  was  challenged  by 
the  drunken  crowd,  and  made  to  give  an 
account  of  himself,  and  to  answer  for  hav- 
ing crossed  the  river  without  a  permit  from 
the  head  of  the  band.  Finding  that  he  was 
a  stranger,  they  related  to  him  in  fiendish 
glee  their  recent  exploits  of  pillage,  rapine, 
and  murder.  They  conducted  him  through 
the  temple;  everywhere  were  marks  of  their 
brutish  acts;  its  altars  of  prayer  were 
broken;  the  baptismal  font  had  been  so 
'^  diligently  desecrated  as  to  render  the 
apartment  in  which  it  was  contained  too 
noisome  to  abide  in."  There  in  the  steeple 
close  by  the  ''scar  of  divine  wrath"  left  by 
a  recent  thunderbolt,  were  broken  covers 
of  Uquor  and  drinking  vessels. 

Sickened  with  the  sight,  disgusted  with 
this  spectacle  of  outrage,  the  colonel  re- 
crossed  the  river  at  nightfall,  beating  up- 
ward, for  the  wind  had  freshened.  At- 
tracted by  a  faint  light  near  the  bank,  he 
approached  the  spot,  there  to  find  a  few 
haggard  faces  surrounding  one  who  seemed 
to   be   in   the    last    stages   of   fever.     The 


46 

sufferer  was  partially  protected  by  some- 
thing like  a  tent  made  from  a  couple  of 
bed  sheets;  and  wdth  such  surroundings,  the 
spirit  was  pluming  itself  for  flight.  Making 
his  way  through  this  camp  of  misery,  he 
heard  the  sobbings  of  children  hungry  and 
sick;  there  were  men  and  women  dying 
from  wounds  or  distress,  without  a  semblance 
of  shelter  or  a  single  physical  comfort ;  Tvdves 
in  the  pangs  of  maternity,  ushering  into  the 
world  innocent  babes  doomed  to  be  mother- 
less from  their  birth,  and  at  intervals,  to  the 
ears  of  those  outcasts,  the  sick  and  the 
dying,  the  wind  brought  the  soul-piercing 
sounds  of  the  revehng  mob  in  the  distant 
city;  the  scrap  of  vulgar  song,  the  shocking 
oath,  shrieked  from  the  temple  tower  in  the 
madness  of  brutal  orgies. 

This,  however,  was  but  the  rear  remnant 
of  the  expatriated  Christian  band.  The  van 
was  already  far  on  its  way  toward  the  in- 
viting ^^ilderness  of  the  all  but  unknown 
west.  But  the  wanderers  were  not  wholly 
without  friends;  certain  Indian  tribes,  the 
Omahas  and  the  Pottawattamies,  welcomed 
them  to  their  lands,  in^dting  them  to  camp 
within  their  territory  during  the  coming 
\\anter.  ''Welcome,"  said  these  children  of 
the  forest,  "we  too  have  been  driven  from 
our  pleasant  homes  east  of  the  great  river, 


THE  STORY  OF  "MORMONISM."  47 

to  these  damp  and  unhealthful  bottoms; 
you  now,  white  men,  have  been  driven  forth 
to  the  prairies;  we  are  fellow-sufferers. 
Welcome,  brothers." 

And  in  return  much  assistance  was  ren- 
dered by  the  white  refugees  to  their,  shall 
I  say  savage  friends?  If  it  was  civiHzation 
the  wanderers  had  left,  then  indeed  might 
the  red  men  of  the  forest  have  felt  proud 
of  their  distinction.  But  the  Indian  agent, 
a  Christian  gentleman,  ordered  the  ''Mor- 
mons" to  move  on  and  leaA^e  the  reservation 
which  a  kind  government  had  pro\'ided  for 
its  red  children.  An  order  from  President 
Polk,  who  had  been  appealed  to  by  Colonel 
Kane,  gave  the  Saints  permission  to  remain. 
The  government  of  Iowa  had  courteously 
assured  them  protection  while  passing 
through  that  territory.  As  soon  as  the  peo- 
ple were  well  under  way,  a  thorough  or- 
ganization was  effected.  Remembering 
the  toilsome  desert  march  from  Egypt  to 
Canaan,  the  people  assumed  the  name, 
''Camp  of  Israel."  The  camp  consisted  of 
two  main  divisions,  and  each  was  sub-divided 
into  companies  of  hundreds,  fifties,  and 
tens,  with  captains  to  direct.  An  officer 
with  one  hundred  volunteers  went  ahead  of 
the  main  body  to  select  a  route  and  prepare 
a  road.     At  this  time,  there  were  over  one 


thousand  wagons  of  the  ''Mormons"  rolling 
westward,  and  the  line  of  march  soon 
reached  from  the  Mississippi  to  Council 
Bluffs.  There  were  in  the  company  not 
half  enough  draft  animals  required  for  the 
arduous  march,  and  but  an  insufficient  num- 
ber of  able-bodied  men  to  tend  the  camps. 
The  women  had  to  assist  in  driving  teams 
and  stock,  and  in  other  labors  of  the  march. 
Yet  with  their  characteristic  cheerfulness 
the  people  made  the  best,  and  that  proved 
to  be  a  great  deal,  out  of  their  lot.  When 
the  camp  halted,  a  city  seemed  to  spring  as 
if  by  magic  from  the  prairie  soil.  Concerts 
and  social  gatherings  were  usual  features  of 
the  evening  rests. 

But  another  great  event  disturbed  the 
equanimity  of  the  camp.  War  had  broken 
out  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States. 
General  Taylor's  \dctories  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  strife  had  been  all  but  decisive;  but 
the  RepubUc  was  on  its  march  to  the  west- 
ern ocean  and  the  provinces  of  New  Mexico 
and  California  were  in  her  path.  These 
two  pro\'inces  comprised  in  addition  to  the 
territory  now  designated  by  those  names, 
Utah,  Nevada,  portions  of  Wyoming  and 
Colorado,  as  also  Arizona;  while  Oregon, 
then  claimed  by  Great  Britain,  included 
Washington,  Idaho,  and  portions  of  Mon- 


THE  STORY  OF  ^'mORMONISM."  49 

tana  and  Wyoming.  It  was  the  plan  of  the 
national  adixdnistration  to  occupy  these 
pro\'inces  at  the  earhest  moment  possible; 
and  a  call  was  made  upon  the  ''Mormon" 
refugees  to  contribute  to  the  general  force 
by  furnishing  a  battalion  of  five  hundred 
men  to  take  part  in  the  war  with  Mexico. 
The  surprise  w^iich  the  message  of  the  gov- 
ernment officer  produced  in  the  camp 
amounted  almost  to  cUsmay.  Five  hundred 
men  fit  to  bear  arms  to  be  drafted  from 
that  camp!  What  would  become  of  the 
rest?  Already  women  and  boys  had  been 
pressed  into  service  to  do  the  work  of  men; 
already  the  sick  and  the  halt  had  been  neg- 
lected; and  many  graves  marked  the  path 
they  had  traversed,  whose  tenants  had  pass- 
ed to  their  last  sleep  through  lack  of  care. 
But  how  long  did  they  hesitate?  Scarcely 
an  hour;  it  was  the  call  of  their  country. 
True,  they  were  even  then  leaving  the 
national  soil,  but  not  of  their  own  will.  To 
them  their  country  was  and  is  the  promised 
land,  the  Lord's  chosen  place,  the  land  of 
Zion.  ''You  shall  have  your  battalion," 
said  Brigham  Young  to  Captain  Allen,  the 
muster  officer,  "and  if  there  are  not  young 
men  enough,  we  will  take  the  old  men,  and 
if  they  are  not  enough,  we  will  take  the 
women."     Within   a   week  from  the   time 


50  THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM." 

President  Polk's  message  was  received,  the 
entire  force,  in  all  five  hundred  and  forty- 
nine  souls,  was  on  the  march  to  Fort  Leaven- 
worth. Their  path  from  the  Missouri  to  the 
Pacific  led  them  over  two  thousand 
miles,  much  of  this  distance  being 
measured  through  wildernesses,  which 
prior  to  that  time  had  not  been  trodden  b}^ 
ci\dUzedfoot. 

Colonel  Cooke,  the  commander  of  the 
''Mormon"  Battalion,  declared,  "Historv 
may  be  searched  in  vain  for  an  equal  march 
of  infantr3^"  Many  were  cUsabled  through 
the  severity  of  the  march,  and  man}-  cases 
of  sickness  and  death  were  chronicled.  Gen- 
eral Kearney  and  his  successor.  Governor 
R.  B.  Mason,  as  military  commandants  of 
California  spoke  in  the  highest  praise  of  this 
organization,  and  in  their  official  reports  de- 
clared that  they  had  made  efforts  to  pro- 
long the  battalion's  term  of  ser\^ce;  but 
most  of  the  men  chose  to  return  as  soon  as 
they  could  secure  their  honorable  discharge. 

But  to  return  to  the  Camp  of  Israel:  A 
pioneer  party,  consisting  of  a  hundred  and 
forty  and  four,  preceded  the  main  body;  and 
the  line  of  the  emigrating  hosts  soon  stretch- 
ed from  the  Missouri  to  the  valley  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake.  Wagons  there  were,  as  al- 
so some  horses  and  men,  but  ail  too  lew  for 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  51 

the  journey;  and  a  great  part  of  the  company- 
walked  the  full  thousand  miles  across  the 
great  plains  and  the  forbidding  deserts  of 
the  West.  In  the  Black  Hills  region,  the 
pioneers  were  delayed  a  week  at  the  Platte, 
a  stream,  which,though  usually  fordable  at 
this  point  was  now  so  swollen  as  to  make  ford- 
ing impossible.  Here,  too,  their  provisions 
were  well  nigh  exhausted.  Game  had  not 
been  plentiful,  and  the  ''Mormon"  pioneers 
were  threatened  with  the  direst  privations. 
In  their  slow  march  they  had  been  passed 
by  a  number  of  well-equipped  parties,  some 
of  them  from  Missouri  bound  for  the  Pa- 
cific; but  most  of  these  were  overtaken  on 
the  easterly  side  of  the  river.  Amongst 
the  effects  of  the  ''Mormon"  party  w^as  a 
leathern  boat,  which  on  water  served  the 
legitimate  purpose  of  its  maker  and  on  land 
was  made  to  do  ser\dce  as  a  wagon  box. 
This,  together  with  rafts  specially  construct- 
ed, was  now  put  to  good  use  in  ferrying 
across  the  river  not  alone  themselves  and 
their  little  property,  but  the  other  com- 
panies and  their  loads.  For  this  service 
they  were  well  paid  in  camp  provisions. 

Thus,  the  Saints  found  themselves  re- 
he  ved  from  want  with  their  meal  sacks  re- 
plenished in  the  heart  of  the  wilderness. 
Many   may  call  it  superstition,   but   some 


52  THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM." 

will  regard  it  as  did  the  pioneers — an  in- 
interposition  of  Pro'vidence,  and  an  answer 
to  their  prayers — an  event  to  be  compared, 
they  said,  to  the  feeding  of  Israel  with 
manna  in  the  wilderness  of  old. 

After  over  three  months  journeying,  the 
pioneer  band  reached  the  valley  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake;  and  at  the  first  sight  of  it, 
Brigham  Young  declared  it  to  be  the  halt- 
ing place — the  gathering  centre  for  the 
Saints.  And  what  was  there  inviting  in 
this  wilderness  spread  out  like  a  scroll — 
barren  of  in\'iting  message,  and  empty  but 
for  the  picture  it  presented  of  wondrous 
scenic  grandeur?  Looking  from  the  Wasatch 
barrier,  the  colonists  gazed  upon  a  scene 
of  entrancing  though  forbidding  beauty. 
A  barren,  arid  plain,  rimmed  by  mountains 
like  a  literal  basin,  still  occupied  in  its  low- 
est parts  by  the  dregs  of  what  had  once 
filled  it  to  the  brim;  no  green  meadows,  not 
a  tree  worthy  the  name,  scarce  a  patch  of 
green-sward  to  entice  the  adventurous 
wanderers  into  the  valley.  The  slopes  were 
covered  with  sage  brush,  relieved  by  patches 
of  chapparal  oak  and  squaw  bush;  the  wild 
sunflower  lent  its  golden  hue  to  intensify 
the  sharp  contrasts.  Off  to  the  westward 
lay  the  lake,  making  an  impressive,  unin- 
viting picture  in  its  severe,  unliving  beauty; 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  53 

from  its  blue  wastes  sombre  peaks  rose  as 
precipitous  islands,  and  about  the  shores  of 
this  dead  sea  were  saline  flats,  that  told  of 
the  scorching  heat  and  thirsty  atmosphere 
of  this  parched  region.  A  turbid  river  ran 
from  south  to  north  athwart  the  valley, 
''dividing  it  in  twain,"  as  a  historian  of 
the  day  has  written,  ''as  if  the  vast  bowl  in 
the  intense  heat  of  the  Master  Potter's  fires, 
in  process  of  formation,  had  cracked  as- 
under." Small  streams  of  water  started  in 
joyful  enthusiasm  from  the  snow-caps  of 
the  mountains  tow^ard  the  lake,  but  most  of 
them  were  devoured  by  the  thirsty  sands  of 
the  valley  before  their  journey  was  half 
completed. 

Such  was  the  scene  of  desolation  that 
greeted  the  pioneer  band.  A  more  forsaken 
spot  they  had  not  passed  in  all  their  wan- 
derings. And  is  this  the  promised  land? 
This  is  the  very  place  of  which  Bridger 
spake  when  he  proffered  a  thousand  dollars 
in  gold  for  the  first  bushel  of  grain  that  could 
be  raised  here.  With  such  a  Canaan  spread 
out  before  them,  was  it  not  wholly  pardon- 
able if  some  did  sigh  with  longing  for  the 
leeks  and  flesh-pots  of  the  Egypt  they  had 
left,  or  wished  to  pass  by  this  land  and  seek 
a  fairer  home?  Two  of  the  three  women 
who   belonged  to   the   pioneer    party   were 


54  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

utterly  disappointed.  ''Weak,  worn,  and 
weary  as  I  am,"  said  one  of  these  heroines, 
''I  would  rather  push  on  another  thousand 
miles  than  stay  here." 

But  the  voice  of  their  leader  was  heard. 
"The  very  place,"  said  Brigham  Young,  and 
in  his  prophetic  mind  there  rose  a  vision  of 
what  was  to  come.  Not  for  a  moment  did 
he  doubt  the  future.  He  saw  a  multitude 
of  towns  and  cities,  hamlets  and  \'illas  fiUing 
this  and  neighboring  valleys,  with  the  fair- 
est of  all,  a  city  whose  beauty  of  situation, 
whose  wealth  of  resource  should  become 
knowTL  throughout  the  world,  rising  from 
the  most  arid  site  of  the  burning  desert  be- 
fore him,  hard  by  the  barren  salt  shores  of 
the  watery  waste.  There  in  the  very  heart  of 
the  parched  wilderness  should  stand  the 
temple  of  his  people,  with  other  similar 
shrines  in  valleys  beyond  the  horizon  of  his 
gaze. 

Within  a  few  hours  after  the  arrival  of  the 
vanguard  upon  the  banks  of  what  is  now 
known  as  City  Creek — the  mountain  stream 
which  to-day  furnishes  Salt  Lake  City  part 
of  her  water  supply — plows  were  put  to 
work;  but  the  hard-baked  soil,  never  before 
disturbed  by  the  efforts  of  man  to  till,  re- 
fused to  yield  to  the  share.  A  dam  was 
thrown  across  the  stream  and  the  softenino- 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  55 

liquid  was  spread  upon  the  flat  that  had 
been  chosen  for  the  first  fields.  The  plant- 
ing season  had  already  well  nigh  passed,  and 
not  a  day  could  be  lost.  Potatoes  and  other 
crops  were  put  in,  and  the  land  was  again 
flooded.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  ir- 
rigation system,  which  soon  became  co-ex- 
tensive with  the  lands  occupied  by  the 
''Mormon"  settlers,  a  system  which  under 
the  blessing  of  Providence,  has  proved  to  be 
the  veritable  magic  touch  by  which  the 
desert  has  been  made  a  field  of  richness  and 
a  garden  of  beauty;  a  system  which  now  af- 
ter many  decades  of  successful  trial  is  held 
up  by  the  nation's  wise  and  great  ones  to  be 
the  one  practicable  method  of  reclaiming 
our  country's  vast  domains  of  arid  lands. 
It  was  on  the  24th  of  July,  1847,  that  the 
main  part  of  the  pioneer  band  entered  the 
valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  that  day 
of  the  3^ear  is  observed  as  a  legal  holiday  in 
Utah.  From  that  time  to  the  present,  the 
stream  of  immigration  to  those  valleys  has 
never  ceased. 


IV. 


But  the  dangers  of  this  company's  migra- 
tion were  surpassed  by  those  of  parties  who 
subsequently  braved  the  terrors  of  the 
plains.  In  their  enthusiasm  to  reach  the 
gathering  place  of  their  people,  many  of  the 
Latter-day  Saints  set  out  from  Iowa,  where 
railway  facilities  had  their  termination, 
with  handcarts  only  as  a  means  of  convey- 
ance. To-day  there  are  living  in  the  smil- 
ing vales  of  Utah,  -'men  and  women  who 
then  as  bo3^s  and  girls  trudged  wearily 
across  the  prairies,  dragging  the  lumbering 
carts  that  contained  their  entire  provision 
against  starvation  and  freezing.  Such  hand- 
cart companies  were  fulty  organized;  a  hm- 
ited  amount  of  freight  was  allowed  to  each 
division;  milch  cattle  and  a  very  few  draft- 
animals,  with  wagons  for  conveying  the 
hea\der  baggage  and  to  carry  the  sick,  were 
assigned.  The  tale  of  those  dreary  marches 
has  never  yet  been  told;  the  song  of  the 
heroism  and  sacrifice  displayed  by  these  pil- 
grims for  conscience  sake  is  awaiting  a  singer 
worthy  the  theme.  Wading  the  streams 
with  carts  in  tow,  or  in  cases  of  unfordable 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  57 

streams,  stopping  to  construct  rafts;  at 
times  living  on  reduced  rations  of  but  a  few 
ounces  of  meal  each  per  day;  lying  down  at 
night  with  a  prayer  in  the  heart  that  they 
wake  no  more  on  earth,  a  prayer  which 
had  its  fulfillment  in  hundreds  of  cases;  the 
dying  heaving  their  parting  sighs  in  the 
arms  of  loved  ones  who  were  so  soon  to 
follow,  they  journeyed  on. 

The  inevitable  catastrophies  and  accidents 
of  travel  robbed  them  of  their  substance. 
Hostile  savages  stampeded  their  cattle,  or 
openly  attacked  and  plundered  the  trains. 
But  on  they  went,  never  swerving  from  the 
course.  These  later  companies  needed  no 
chart  nor  compass  to  guide  them  over  the 
desert,  the  road  was  plain  from  the  marks 
of  former  camps,  and  yet  more  so  from 
the  graves  of  friends  and  loved  ones  who 
had  started  before  on  the  road  to  the  earthly 
Zion,  and  found  that  it  led  them  to  the 
martyr's  entrance  to  heaven,  graves  that 
were  marked  perhaps  but  by  a  rude  inscrip- 
tion cut  on  a  pole  or  a  board.  And  even 
these  narrow  lodgings  had  not  been  left 
inviolate;  the  wolves  of  the  plains  had  too 
often  succeeded  in  unearthing  and  rending 
the  bocUes.  Every  company  thus  made 
the  course  the  plainer;  each  of  them  added 
to  the  silent  population  of  the  desert;  oft- 


58  THE  STORY  OF 

times  half  a  score  were  interred  at  one  camp, 
and  of  one  company  over  a  fourth  were  thus 
left  beside  the  prairie  road.  Now  we  trav- 
erse the  self-same  track  in  a  day  and  a  night, 
recHning  on  velvet  cushions  of  ease,  cover- 
ing fifty  miles  while  dining  in  luxury,  and 
we  avert  the  ennui  of  the  journey  by  berat- 
ing the  railway  company  for  the  slow  travel. 

ReUef  trains  were  continually  on  the  way 
between  the  valley  of  the  Salt  Lake  and 
the  Missouri;  and  the  remnants  of  many  a 
company  were  saved  from  what  appeared 
to  be  certain  destruction  by  the  opportune 
arrival  of  these  rescuing  parties.  And  such 
relief  came  from  those  who  were  them- 
selves destitute  and  almost  starAdng.  Brig- 
ham  Young  with  a  few  of  the  chief  officials 
of  the  Church,  and  aids,  returned  eastward 
on  such  an  errand  of  rescue  within  a  few 
weeks  after  reaching  the  valley.  The  re- 
gion to  which  the  early  settlers  came  was 
in  no  wise  a  typical  land  of  promise;  it  did 
not  flow  spontaneously  with  milk  and  honey. 
Drought  and  unseasonable  frosts  made  the 
first  year's  farming  experiments  but  doubt- 
ful successes,  and  in  the  succeeding  spring 
the  land  was  visited  by  the  devastating 
plague  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  crickets. 

They  swarmed  down  in  innumerable 
hordes  upon  the  fields,  destroying  the  grain 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  59 

as  they  advanced,  devouring  all  before  them, 
lea\ang  the  land  a  desert  in  their  track. 
The  people  scarcely  knew  how  to  mthstand 
the  assault  of  this  new  foe;  they  drove  the 
marauders  into  trenches  there  to  be  drowned 
or  burned;  men,  women  and  every  child  that 
could  swing  a  stick,  were  called  to  the  ranks 
in  this  insect  war;  and  with  all  their  fight- 
ing, the  people  forgot  not  to  pray  for  deliver- 
ance, and  they  fasted,  too,  for  the  best  of 
reasons. 

And  as  they  watched,  and  prayed,  and 
worked,  they  saw  approaching  from  the 
north  and  west  a  veritable  host  of  winged 
creatures  of  more  formidable  proportions 
still;  and  these  bore  down  upon  the  fields 
as  though  coming  to  complete  the  devasta- 
tion. But  see!  these  are  of  the  color  that 
betokens  peace;  they  are  the  ocean  gulls, 
white  and  beautiful,  advancing  upon  the 
hosts  of  the  black  destroyers.  Falling  upon 
the  people's  foes,  they  devoured  them  by  the 
thousand,  and  when  filled  to  repletion, 
disgorged  and  feasted  again.  And  they  did 
not  stop  till  the  crickets  were  destroyed. 
Again  the  skeptic  will  say  this  was  but 
chance;  but  the  people  accepted  that  chance 
as  a  providential  ruling  in  their  behalf,  and 
reverently  did  they  give  thanks. 

To-day  the  wanton  kiUing  of  a  gull  in 


60 


Utah  is  an  offense  in  law;  but  stronger  than 
the  legal  proscription,  more  powerful  than 
the  fear  of  judicial  penalties,  is  the  popular 
sentiment  in  favor  of  these  white-ringed 
deliverers.  Ever}"  year  come  these  grace- 
ful creatures  to  spend  the  springtime  in  the 
fields  and  upon  the  lakes  of  Utah;  and 
right  well  do  they  feel  their  welcome,  for 
they  are  habitually  so  tame  and  fearless 
that  they  ma}^  almost  be  touched  by  the 
hand  before  they  take  flight. 

By  the  fall  of  1S4S,  five  thousand  people 
had  already  reached  the  valley,  and  the 
food  problem  was  a  most  difficult  one. 
The  winter  was  severe;  and  famine,  stark 
and  inexorable,  threw  its  dread  shadow  over 
the  people.  There  seemed  to  be  an  entry 
in  the  book  of  fate  that  every  possible  test 
of  human  endurance  and  integrity  should 
be  appUecl  to  this  pilgrim  band.  Without 
distinction  as  to  former  station,  they  went 
out  and  dug  the  roots  of  weeds,  gathered 
the  tenderest  of  the  coarse  grass,  thistles, 
and  vn\d  berries,  and  thus  dicl  they  subsist; 
upon  such  did  they  feast  with  thanksgi\ing, 
until  a  less  scanty  harvest  relieved  their 
wants. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  gold  fever  was 
at  its  height,  a  consequence  of  the  discovery 
of  the  precious  metal  in  California,  in  which 


THE  STORY  OF  ^'mORMONISM."  61 

discovery,  indeed,  certain  members  of  the 
disbanded  ''Mormon"  Battalion,  working 
their  way  eastward,  were  most  prominent. 
Some  of  the  ''Mormon"  settlers,  becoming 
infected  with  the  disease,  hastened  west- 
ward, but  the  counsel  of  the  Church  author- 
ities prevailed  to  keep  all  but  a  few  at  home. 
They  had  not  left  the  country  of  their 
birth  or  adoption  to  seek  gold;  nor  bright 
jewels  of  the  mine;  nor  the  wealth  of  seas; 
nor  the  spoils  of  war;  they  sought,  and 
believed  they  had  found,  a  faith's  pure 
shrine.  But  the  gold-seekers  hastening 
westward,  and  the  successful  miners  re- 
turning eastward,  halted  at  the  "Mormon" 
settlements  and  there  replenished  their  sup- 
plies, leaving  their  gold  to  enrich  the  people 
of  the  desert. 

But  of  what  use  is  gold  in  the  wilderness! 
The  famishing  Arab  finding  a  well  filled  bag 
upon  the  sand  rejoices  in  the  thought  of 
dates — his  bread;  and  is  cast  into  the  depths 
of  despair  when  he  reahzes  that  he  has  found 
nothing  but  a  bag  of  costly  pearls.  The 
settlers  by  the  lake  needed  horses  and 
wagons,  tools,  implements  of  husbandry 
and  building;  and  gold  was  valuable  only 
as  it  represented  a  means  of  obtaining 
these.  Gold  became  so  plentiful  and  was 
withall   so  worthless  in  the   desert   colony 


62  THE  STORY  OF  '  MORMOXISM. 

that  men  refused  to  take  it  for  their  labor. 
The  yellow  metal  was  collected  in  buckets 
and  exported  to  the  States  in  exchange  for 
the  goods  so  much  desired.  The  merchan- 
dise brought  in  by  caravans  of  ''prairie 
schooners,"  was  sold  as  fast  as  it  could  be 
put  out;  and  strict  rules  were  enforced  al- 
lowing but  a  proportionate  amount  to  each 
^rchaser. 

Within  a  few  months  after  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Utah,  public  schools  were  estab- 
hshed;  and  one  of  the  early  acts  of  the 
provisional  government  was  to  grant  a 
charter  to  the  Deseret  University,  now 
known  as  the  University  of  Utah. 

Up  to  1S49,  Utah  had  no  political  history. 
Settling  in  a  Mexican  pro\dnce,  the  contest 
to  determine  its  future  ownership  by  the 
United  States  then  in  progress,  the  people 
in  common  ^ath  most  pioneer  communities 
established  their  own  form  of  government. 
But  in  February,  1848,  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
loupe  Hidalgo  gave  California  to  the  United 
States;  months  passed,  however,  before  the 
news  of  the  change  reached  the  west. 
Early  in  1849,  a  call  was  issued  to  "all  the 
citizens  of  that  portion  of  Upper  California 
lying  to  the  east  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  moun- 
tains" to  meet  in  convention  at  Great  Salt 
Lake  City;  and  there  a  petition  was  pre- 


63 


pared  asking  of  Congress  the  rights  of  self- 
government;  and  pending  action,  a  tempor- 
ary regime  was  estabhshed,  under  the  name 
of  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  State 
of  Deseret. 

''Utah"  was  not  the  choice  of  the  people 
as  the  name  of  their  state ;  that  word  served 
but  to  recall  the  degraded  tribes  who  had 
contested  the  settlement  of  the  valleys. 
Deseret,  a  Book  of  Mormon  name  for  the 
honey  bee,  was  more  appropriate.  But 
their  petition  was  denied  in  part,  and,  in 
1850  was  estabhshed  the  territorial  form  of 
government  in  Utah.  Concerning  the 
period  of  the  provisional  government,  such 
men  as  Gunnison,  Stansbury,  and  other 
federal  officials  on  duty  in  the  west,  have 
recorded  their  praises  of  the  people  in 
official  reports.  But  with  the  un-American 
system  of  territorial  government  came 
troubles. 

At  first,  many  of  the  territorial  officials 
were  appointed  from  among  the  settlers 
themselves;  thus,  Brigham  Young  was  the 
first  governor;  but  strangers,  who  knew  not 
the  people  nor  their  ways,  filled  with  preju- 
dice from  the  false  reports  they  had  heard, 
came  to  govern  the  settlers  in  the  desert. 
Of  the  federal  appointees  thus  forced  upon 


64  THE  STORY  OF 

the  people  of  Utah,  many  made  for  them- 
selves most  unen\dable  records. 

Some  of  them  were  broken  poHticians, 
professional  office-seekers,  with  no  desire 
but  to  get  the  greatest  possible  gains  out  of 
their  appointment.  With  effrontery  that 
would  shock  the  modesty  of  a  savage,  the 
non-'' Mormon"  party  adopted  and  fla- 
grantly displayed  the  carpet-bag  as  the 
badge  of  their  profession.  But  not  all  the 
officials  sent  to  Utah  from  afar  were  of  this 
type;  some  of  them  were  honorable  and  up- 
right men;  and  amongst  this  class  the 
''Mormon"  people  reckon  a  number  who 
were  opposed  to  their  principles,  but  who 
nevertheless  were  sincere  and  honest  in  their 
opposition. 

In  the  early  part  of  1857,  the  published 
libels  upon  the  people  received  many  serious 
additions,  the  principal  of  which  was  pro- 
mulgated in  connection  with  the  resigna- 
tion of  Judge  Drummond  of  the  Utah  fed- 
eral court.  In  his  last  letter  to  the  United 
States  attorney-general,  he  declared  that 
his  life  was  no  longer  safe  in  Utah,  and  that 
he  had  been  compelled  to  flee  from  his  bench; 
but  the  most  serious  charge  of  all  was  that 
the  people  had  destroyed  the  records  of  the 
court,  and  that  they  had  resented,  with  hos- 
tile demonstration,   his  protests;  in  short, 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  65 

that  justice  was  dethroned  in  Utah,  and 
that  the  people  were  in  a  state  of  open  re- 
bellion. 

With  mails  three  months  apart,  news 
traveled  slowly;  but  as  soon  as  word  of  this 
infamous  charge  reached  Salt  Lake  City, 
the  clerk  of  the  court.  Judge  Drummond's 
clerk,  sent  a  letter  by  express  to  the  attor- 
ney-general, denying  under  oath  the  judge's 
statements,  and  attesting  the  declaration 
with  official  seal.  The  records,  he  declared, 
had  been  untouched  except  by  official  hands, 
and  from  the  time  of  the  court's  establish- 
ment the  files  had  been  safe,  and  were  then 
in  his  personal  keeping.  But,  before  the 
clerk's  communication  had  reached  its  des- 
tination, so  difficult  is  it  for  stately  truth  to 
overtake  flitting  falsehood,  the  mischief  had 
been  done.  Upon  the  most  prejudiced  re- 
ports utterly  unfounded  in  fact,  with  a  care- 
lessness which  even  his  personal  and  polit- 
ical friends  found  no  ample  means  of  ex- 
plaining away.  President  Buchanan  allowed 
himself  to  be  persuaded  that  a  "Mormon" 
rebeUion  existed,  and  ordered  an  army  of 
over  two  thousand  men  to  proceed  straight- 
way to  Utah  to  subdue  the  rebels.  Suc- 
cessors to  the  governor  and  other  territor- 
ial officials  were  appointed,  among  whom 
there  was  not  a  single  resident  of  Utah; 


66  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

and  the  military  force  was  charged 
with  the  duty  of  installing  the  foreign  ap- 
pointees. 

With  great  dispatch  and  under  cover  of 
secrecy,  that  the  Utah  rebels  might  be 
taken  by  surprise,  the  army  set  out  on  the 
march.  Before  the  troops  reached  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  the  sworn  statement 
from  the  clerk  of  the  supreme  court  of  Utah 
denying  the  charges  made  by  Judge  Drum- 
mond  became  pubUc  property;  and  about 
the  same  time  men  who  had  come  from 
Utah  to  New  York  direct,  pubhshed  over 
their  own  signatures  a  declaration  that  all 
was  peaceful  in  and  about  the  settlements 
of  Utah.  The  pubhc  eye  began  to  twitch, 
and  soon  to  open  wide;  the  conviction  was 
growing  that  someone  had  blundered.  But 
to  retract  would  be  a  plain  confession  of 
error;  blunders  must  be  covered  up. 

Let  us  leave  the  soldiers  on  their  west- 
ward march,  and  ascertain  how  the  news  of 
the  projected  invasion  reached  the  people 
of  Utah,  and  what  effect  the  tidings  pro- 
duced. Certain  ''Mormon"  business  agents, 
operating  in  Missouri,  heard  of  the  hostile 
movement.  At  first  they  were  incredu- 
lous, but  when  the  overland  mail  carrier 
from  the  west  deUvered  his  pouch  and  ob- 
tained his  receipt,  but  was  refused  the  bag 


67 


of  Utah  mail  with  the  postmaster's  state- 
ment that  he  had  been  ordered  to  hold  all 
mail  for  Utah,  there  seemed  no  room  for 
doubt.  Two  of  the  Utahns  immediately 
hastened  westward. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  1857,  the  people  had 
assembled  in  celebration  of  Pioneer  Day. 
Silver  Lake,  a  mountain  gem  set  amidst  the 
snows  and  forest  and  towering  peaks  of  the 
Cottonwoods,  had  been  selected  for  the  fes- 
tivities. The  Stars  and  Stripes  were  stream- 
ing above  the  camp;  the  bands  played,  the 
choirs  sang;  there  were  speeches,  and  pic- 
nics, and  prayers.  Experiences  were  com- 
pared as  to  the  journeyings  on  the  plains; 
stories  were  told  of  the  shifts  to  which  the 
people  had  been  put  by  the  vicissitudes  of 
famine;  but  these  dread  experiences  seemed 
to  them  now  like  a  dream  of  the  night;  on 
this  day  all  were  happy.  Were  they  not 
safe  from  savage  foes  both  red  and  white? 
There  had  been  peace  for  a  season;  and 
their  desert  homes  were  already  smiling  in 
wealth  of  flower  and  tree;  the  wilderness 
was  blossoming  under  their  feet;  their  con- 
sciences were  void  of  offense  toward  their 
fellows.  Yet  at  that  very  hour,  all  unbe- 
known to  themselves,  and  without  the  op- 
portunity of  speaking  a  word  in  defense, 


these  people  had  been  con\'icted  of  insur- 
rection and  treason. 

It  was  mid-day  and  the  festivities  were  at 
their  height,  when  a  party  of  men  rode  into 
camp  and  sought  an  inter\dew  with  Gover- 
nor Young.  Three  of  them  had  plainly 
ridden  hard  and  far;  they  gave  their  report; 
— an  armed  force  of  thousands  was  at  that 
hour  approaching  the  territory;  the  boasts 
of  officers  and  men  as  what  they  would 
do  when  they  found  themselves  in  "Mor- 
mon" towns  were  reported;  and  these 
stories  called  up,  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
heard,  the  dread  scenes  of  Far  West  and 
Nauvoo.  Had  these  colonists  of  the  wil- 
derness not  gone  far  enough  to  saiisfy 
the  hate  of  their  fellow-citizens  in  this  re- 
pubUc  of  hberty?  They  had  halted  be- 
tween the  civilization  of  the  east  and  that 
of  the  west,  they  had  fled  from  the  country 
that  refused  them  a  home,  and  now  the 
nation  would  eject  them  from  their  desert 
lodgings. 

A  council  was  called  and  the  situation 
freely  discussed.  Had  they  not  seen, 
lo,  these  many  times,  organized  battalions 
and  companies  surpassing  fiendish  mobs 
in  ^dlliany?  The  e\adence  warranted  their 
conclusion  that  invasion  meant  massacre. 
With  a  calmness  that  was  painful  the  plan 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  69 

of  action  was  decided  upon.  It  was  the 
conviction  that  war  was  inevitable,  and 
it  was  decided  to  resist  to  the  last.  Then, 
if  the  army  forced  its  way  into  the  valleys 
of  Utah  on  hostile  purpose  bent,  it  should 
find  the  land  as  truly  a  desert  as  it  was 
when  the  pioneers  first  took  possession.  To 
this  effect  was  the  decision: — We  have  built 
cities  in  the  east  for  our  foes  to  occupy;  our 
very  temples  have  been  desecrated  and 
destroyed  by  them;  but,  with  the  help  of 
Israel's  God,  we  will  prevent  them  enriching 
themselves  with  the  spoils  of  our  labors  in 
these  mountain  retreats. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  room  for  doubt 
that  war  was  about  to  break  upon  them; 
and  with  such  a  prospect,  men  may  be  ex- 
pected to  take  every  advantage  of  their 
situation. Brigham  Young  was  still  governor  of 
Utah,  and  the  militia  was  subject  to  his  order. 
Promptly  he  proclaimed  the  territory  under 
martial  law,  and  forbade  any  armed  body 
to  cross  its  boundaries.  Echo  Canyon,  the 
one  promising  means  of  ingress,  was  forti- 
fied. In  those  defiles  an  army  might,  easily 
be  stopped  by  a  few;  ammunition  stations 
were  established;  provisions  were  cached; 
boulders  were  collected  upon  the  cUffs  be- 
neath which  the  invaders  must  pass  if  they 
held  to  their  purpose  of  forcing  an  entrance. 


70  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

The  people  had  been  roused  to  desperation, 
and  force  was  to  be  met  with  force.  In  the 
settlements,  combustibles  were  placed  in 
readiness,  and  if  the  worst  came,  every 
''Mormon"  house  would  be  reduced  to  ashes, 
every  tree  would  be  hewn  down. 

With  an  experience  of  suffering  that 
would  have  well  served  a  better  cause,  this 
picked  detachment  of  the  United  States 
army  made  its  way  to  the  Green  River 
country;  and  there,  counting  well  the  cost 
of  proceeding  farther,  went  into  camp 
at  Fort  Bridger.  Many  of  the  troops  had 
almost  perished  in  the  storms,  for  it  was 
late  in  November,  and  the  winter  had  closed 
in  early;  many  horses  had  frozen  to  death. 
Colonel  Cooke  reported  to  the  commandant 
that  half  his  horses  had  perished  through 
cold  and  lack  of  food;  hundreds  of  beef 
cattle  had  died;  yet  the  region  was  so  wild 
and  forbidding  that  scarcely  a  wolf  ventured 
there  to  glut  itself  upon  the  carcases.  In 
Cooke's  own  words  we  read  that  for  thirty 
miles  the  road  was  blocked  with  carcasses — 
and  "with  abandoned  and  shattered  pro- 
perty, they  mark,  perhaps  beyond  example 
in  history,  the  steps  of  an  advancing  army 
with  the  horrors  of  a  disastrous  retreat." 

With  the  army  traveled  the  new  federal 
appointees  to  offices  in  the  territory.     Cum- 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  71 

ming,  the  governor-to-be,  issued  a  proclama- 
tion from  his  dug-out  lodgings,  and  sent  it 
to  Salt  Lake  City  by  carrier;  he  signed  it  as 
^'Governor  of  Utah  Territory."  This  but 
belittled  him,  for  by  the  very  terms  of  the 
Organic  Act,  to  uphold  which  was  the  pro- 
fessed purpose  of  his  coming,  he  was  not 
governor  until  the  oath  of  office  had  been 
duly  subscribed  to.  A  few  days  later  he 
went  before  his  fellow-sufferer  Eckles,  the 
appointee  for  chief  justice  of  Utah,  and 
took  an  oath;  but  why  did  he  swear  so 
recklessly  when  the  one  before  whom  he 
swore  was  no  more  an  official  than  himself? 
The  army  wintered  at  a  satisfactory  dis- 
tance from  Salt  Lake  City,  and  such  a  winter, 
according  to  official  reports,  the  soldiers  of 
our  land  have  rarely  had  to  brave.  It  was 
soon  apparent  that  they  need  fear  no  ' 'Mor- 
mon" attack;  orders  had  been  issued  to  the 
territorial  militia  to  take  no  life  except  in 
cases  of  absolute  necessity;  but  General 
Johnston  and  his  staff  had  more  than  their 
match  in  battling  with  the  elements.  Com- 
munications between  Governor  Young  and 
the  commandant  were  frequent;  safe  con- 
duct was  assured  any  and  all  officers  who 
chose  to  enter  the  city;  and  if  necessary 
hostages  were  to  be  given;  but  the  governor 
was  inexorable  in  his  demand  that,  as  an 


organized  body  with  hostile  purpose,  the 
soldiers  should  not  pass  the  mountain 
gateway.  In  the  meantime,  a  full  account 
of  the  situation  was  reported  by  Governor 
Young  to  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  truth  slowly  made  its  way  into  the 
eastern  press.  President  Buchanan  tacitly 
admitted  his  mistake;  but  to  recall  the 
troops  at  that  juncture  would  be  to  confess 
humiliating  failure. 

A  peace  commissioner,  in  the  person  of 
Colonel  Kane,  w^as  dispatched  to  Salt  Lake 
City;  his  coming  being  made  known  to  Gov- 
ernor Young,  an  escort  was  sent  to  meet 
him  and  conduct  him  through  the  ''Mor- 
mon" lines.  The  result  of  the  conference  was 
that  the  ''Mormon"  leaders  but  reiterated 
their  statement  that  the  President's  ap- 
pointees would  be  given  safe  entry  to  the 
city,  and  be  duly  installed  in  their  offices, 
provided  they  would  enter  without  the  army. 
This  ultimatum  was  carried  to  the  fed- 
eral camp;  and  to  the  open  chagrin  of 
the  commandant,  Governor  Gumming  and 
his  fellow-officials  moved  to  Salt  Lake  City 
under  "Mormon"  escort,  after  a  five  months' 
halt  in  the  wilderness. 

I  beheve  that  strategy  is  usually  allowed 
in  war,  and  I  am  free  to  say  the  "Mormons" 
availed    themselves    of    this    license.     At 


THE  STORY  OF  '^MORMONISM."  73 

short  intervals  in  the  course  of  the  night- 
passage  through  the  canyon,  the  party  was 
challenged,  and  the  password  demanded; 
bon-fires  were  blazing  down  in  the  gorges, 
and  the  impression  was  made  that  the 
mountains  were  full  of  armed  men;  whereas 
the  sentries  were  members  of  the  escort, 
who,  preceding  by  short  cuts  the  main 
party,  continued  to  challenge  and  to  pass. 
On  their  arrival,  the  gentlemen  were  met 
by  the  retiring  officials,  and  were  pleas- 
antly installed.  The  new  governor  called 
upon  the  clerk  of  the  court,  and  ascertained 
the  truth  of  the  statement  that  the  records 
were  entirely  safe.  He  promptly  reported 
his  conclusions  to  General  Johnston  that 
there  was  no  further  need  for  the  army.  It 
was  decided,  however,  that  the  soldiers 
should  be  permitted  to  march  through  the 
city,  and  straightway  the  ''Mormons" 
began  their  exodus  to  the  south. 

Governor  Gumming  tried  in  vain  to  in- 
duce the  people  to  remain,  assuring  them 
that  the  troops  would  commit  no  depreda- 
tions. ''Not  so,"  said  Brigham  Young, 
"we  have  had  experience  with  troops  in  the 
past.  Governor  Gumming;  we  have  seen  our 
leaders  shot  down  by  the  demoralized 
soldiery;  have  seen  mothers  with  babes  at 
their  breasts  sent  to  their  last  home  bv  the 


74  THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM." 

same  bullet;  we  have  witnessed  outrages 
beyond  description.  You  are  now  Governor 
of  Utah;  we  can  no  longer  command  the 
militia  for  our  own  defense.  We  do  not 
wish  to  fight,  therefore  we  depart."  Leav- 
ing a  few  men  to  apply  the  brand  to  the 
combustibles  stored  in  every  house,  at  the 
first  sign  of  plunder  by  the  soldiers,  the 
people  again  deserted  their  homes  and 
moved  into  the  desert  anew. 

But  the  officers  of  the  army  kept  their 
word;  the  troops  were  put  into  camp  forty 
miles  from  the  settlements,  and  the  settlers 
returned.  The  President's  commissioners 
brought  the  official  pardon,  unsolicited,  for 
all  acts  committed  by  the  "Mormons"  in 
opposing  the  entrance  of  the  army.  The 
people  asked  what  they  had  done  that 
needed  pardon;  they  had  not  robbed,  they 
had  not  killed.  But  a  critical  analysis  of 
these  troublous  events  revealed  at  least  one 
overt  act — some  ''Mormon"  scouts  had 
challenged  a  supply  train;  and,  being  op- 
posed, they  had  destroyed  some  of  the 
wagons  and  pro^asions;  and  for  this  they 
accepted  the  President's  most  gracious 
pardon. 


After  all,  the  ''Mormon"  people  regard 
the  advent  of  the  Buchanan  army  as  one 
of  the  greatest  material  blessings  ever 
brought  to  them. 

The  troops,  once  in  Utah,  had  to  be  pro- 
visioned; and  everything  the  settlers  could 
spare  was  eagerly  bought  at  an  unusual 
price.  The  gold  changed  hands.  Then, 
in  their  hasty  departure,  the  army  disposed 
of  everything  outside  of  actual  necessities 
in  the  way  of  accoutrements  and  camp 
equipage.  The  army  found  the  people  in 
poverty,  and  left  them  in  comparative 
wealth. 

And  what  was  the  cause  of  this  hurried 
departure  of  the  military?  For  many 
months,  ominous  rumblings  had  been  heard, 
■ — indications  of  the  gathering  storm  which 
was  soon  to  break  in  the  awful  fury  of  civil 
strife.  It  could  not  be  doubted  that  war  was 
imminent;  already  the  conflict  had  begun, 
and  a  picked  part  of  the  army  was  away  in 
the  western  wilds,  doing  nothing  for  any 
phase  of  the  pubUc  good.  But  a  word  further 
concerning  the  expedition  in  general.     The 


76  THE  STORY  OF  "MORMONISM." 

sending  of  troops  to  Utah  was  part  of  a 
foul  scheme  to  weaken  the  government  in 
its  impending  struggle  with  the  secession- 
ists. The  movement  has  been  called  not 
inaptly  "Buchanan's  blunder,"  but  the  best 
and  wisest  men  may  make  blunders,  and 
whatever  may  be  said  of  President  Buchan- 
an's short-sightedness  in  taking  this  step, 
even  his  enemies  do  not  question  his  integ- 
rity in  the  matter.  He  was  unjustly 
charged  with  favoring  secession;  but  the 
charge  was  soon  disproved. 

However,  it  was  known  that  certain  of  his 
cabinet  were  in  league  with  the  seceding 
states;  and  prominent  among  them  was 
John  Floyd,  secretary  of  war.  The  suc- 
cessful efforts  of  this  recreant  officer  to  dis- 
arm the  North,  while  accumulating  the 
munitions  of  war  in  the  South;  to  scatter 
the  forces  b}^  locating  them  in  widely  sep- 
arated and  remote  stations;  and  in  other 
ways  to  dispose  of  the  regular  army  in  the 
manner  best  calculated  to  favor  the  antici- 
pated rebellion,  are  matters  of  history.  It 
is  also  told  how,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  rebellion,  he  allied  himself  with  the  con- 
federate forces,  accepting  the  rank  of  brig- 
adier-general. It  was  through  Floyd's  ad- 
vice that  Buchanan  ordered  the  military 
expedition   to   Utah,    ostensibly   to   insta  1 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM/'  77 

certain  federal  officials  and  to  repress  an 
alleged  infantile  rebellion  which  in  fact  had 
never  come  into  existence,  but  in  reality  to 
further  the  interests  of  the  secessionists. 
When  the  history  of  that  great  struggle 
with  its  antecedent  and  its  consequent 
circumstances  is  written  with  a  pen  that 
shall  indite  naught  but  truth,  when  preju- 
dice and  partisianship  are  Hved  down,  it 
may  appear  that  Jefferson  Davis  rather 
than  James  Buchanan  was  the  prime  cause 
of  the  great  mistake. 

And  General  Johnston  who  commanded 
the  army  in  the  west;  he  who  was  so  vehe- 
ment in  his  denunciation  of  the  rebel  ''Mor- 
mons," and  who  rejoiced  in  being  selected 
to  chastise  them  into  submission;  who,  be- 
cause of  his  vindictiveness  incurred  the  ill- 
favor  of  the  governor,  whose  posse  comitatus 
the  army  was;  what  became  of  him,  at  one 
time  so  popular  that  he  was  spoken  of  as 
a  Ukely  successor  to  Winfield  Scott  in  the 
office  of  general-in-chief  of  the  United 
States  army?  He  left  Utah  in  the  early 
stages  of  the  rebellion,  turned  his  arms 
against  the  flag  he  had  sworn  to  defend, 
doffed  the  blue,  donned  the  grey,  and  fell  a 
rebel  on  the  field  of  Shiloh. 

Changes  many  and  great  followed  in  be- 
wildering succession  in  Utah.     The  people 


78  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

were  besought  to  take  sides  with  the  South 
in  the  awful  scenes  of  cruel  strife;  it  was 
openly  stated  in  the  East  that  Utah  had 
allied  herself  -^dth  the  cause  of  secession; 
and  by  others  that  the  design  was  to  make 
Salt  Lake  City  the  capital  of  an  independ- 
ent government.  And  surely  such  conjec- 
tures were  pardonable  on  the  part  of 
all  whose  ignorance  and  prejudice  still 
nursed  the  delusion  of  ''Mormon"  disloyalty. 
Moreover,  had  the  people  been  inclined  to 
rebellion  what  greater  opportunity  could 
they  have  wished?  Already  a  North  and  a 
South  were  talked  of — why  not  set  up  also 
a  West?  A  supreme  opportunity  had  come 
and  how  was  it  used?  It  was  at  this  very 
time  that  the  Overland  Telegraph  line, 
which  had  been  approaching  from  the  At- 
lantic and  the  Pacific,  was  completed,  and 
the  first  tremor  felt  in  that  nerve  of  steel 
carried  these  words  from  Brigham  Young: 

Utah  has  not  seceded,  but  is  firm  for  the  con- 
stitution and  laws  of  our  country'. 

The  ''Mormon"  people  saw  in  their  terrible 
experiences,  and  the  outrages  to  which  they 
had  been  subjected,  only  the  mal-adminis- 
tration  of  laws  and  the  subversion  of  justice 
through  human  incapacity  and  hate.  Never 
even  for  a  moment  did  they  question  the 


79 


supreme  authority,  and  the  inspired  origin 
of  the  constitution  of  their  land.  They  knew 
no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West;  they 
stood  positively  by  the  constitution,  and 
would  have  nothing  to  do  in  the  bloody 
strife  between  brothers,  unless  indeed  they 
were  summoned  by  the  authority  to  which 
they  had  already  once  loyally  responded,  to 
furnish  men  and  arms  for  their  country's 
good. 

Following  the  advent  of  the  telegraph 
came  the  railway;  and  the  land  of  ''Mormon- 
dom"  was  no  longer  isolated.  Her  re- 
sources were  developed,  her  wealth  became 
a  topic  of  the  world's  wonder;  the  tide  of 
immigration  swelled  her  population,  con- 
tributing much  of  the  best  from  all  the  civ- 
ilized nations  of  the  earth.  Every  reader 
of  recent  and  current  history  has  learned  of 
her  rapid  growth;  of  her  repeated  appeals 
for  the  recognition  to  which  she  had  so  long 
been  entitled  in  the  sisterhood  of  states;  of 
the  prompt  refusals  with  which  her  pleas 
were  persistently  met,  though  other  terri- 
tories with  smaller  and  more  illiterate  pop- 
ulations, more  restricted  resources,  and  in 
every  way  weaker  claims,  were  allowed  to 
assume  the  habilments  of  maturity,  while 
Utah,  lusty,  large  and  strong,  w^as  kept  in 
swadling    clothes.     But    the    cries    of    the 


80  THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM." 

vigorous  infant  were  at  length  heeded,  and 
in  answer  to  the  seventh  appeal  of  the  kind, 
Utah's  star  w^as  added  to  the  nation's 
galaxy. 

But  let  us  turn  more  particularly  to  the 
history  of  the  Church  itself.  For  a  second 
time  and  then  for  a  third,  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints  was  de- 
prived of  its  president,  and  on  each  occasion 
were  reiterated  the  prophecies  of  disruption 
uttered  at  the  time  of  Joseph  Smith's  assass- 
ination. Calm  observers  declared  that  as 
the  shepherd  had  gone,  the  flock  would  soon 
be  dispersed;  while  others,  comparable 
only  to  wolves,  thinking  the  fold  unguarded, 
sought  to  harry  and  scatter  the  sheep; 
but  ''Mormonism"  died  not;  every  added 
pang  of  grief  served  but  to  unite  the  people. 

When  Brigham  Young  passed  from  earth, 
he  was  mourned  of  the  people  as  deeply  as 
was  Moses  of  Israel.  And  had  he  not  proved 
himself  a  Moses,  aye  and  a  Joshua,  too? 
He  led  the  people  into  the  land  of  holy 
promise,  and  had  divided  unto  them  their 
inheritances.  He  was  a  man  \^dth  clear 
title  as  one  of  the  small  brotherhood  we  call 
great.  As  carpenter,  farmer,  pioneer,  cap- 
itahst,  financier,  preacher,  apostle,  prophet 
— in  everything  he  was  a  leader  among 
men.     Even    those    who    opposed    him    in 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  81 

politics    and  in  religion  respected  him  for 
his  talents,  his  magnanimity,  his  hberality, 
and    his    manliness;    and    years    after    his 
demise,   men   who  had  refused  him  honor 
while  alive,  brought  their  mites  and  their 
greater  sums  to  erect  a  monument  of  stone  ' 
and  bronze  to  the  memory  of  this  man  who^-' 
needs  it  not.     With  his  death  closed  anothep-" 
epoch  in  the  history  of  his  people,  and  a  s\ic-%. 
cessor  arose,  one  who  was  capaJDle  of  leading  '; 
and  judging  under  the  changed'N^^nditions.  ,. 


But  perhaps  I  am  suspected  of  having 
forgotten  or  of  having  intentionally  omit- 
ted reference  to  what  popular  belief  once 
considered  the  chief  feature  of  '']\Iormon- 
ism,"  the  corner-stone  of  the  structure,  the 
secret  of  its  influence  over  its  members,  and 
of  its  attractiveness  to  its  proselytes,  \dz., 
the  pecuharity  of  the  ''Mormon"  institution 
of  marriage.  The  Latter-day  Saints  were 
long  regarded  as  a  polygamous  people. 
That  plural  marriage  has  been  practiced  by 
a  limited  proportion  of  the  people,  under 
sanction  of  Church  ordinance,  has  never 
since  the  introduction  of  the  system  been 
denied.  But  that  plural  marriage  is  a  vital 
tenet  of  the  Church  is  not  true.  What  the 
Latter-day  Saints  call  celestial  marriage  is 


82  THE  STORY  OF 

characteristic  of  the  Church,  and  is  in  very- 
general  practice;  but  of  celestial  marriage, 
plurality  of  wives  was  an  incident,  never  an 
essential.  Yet  the  two  have  never  been 
segregated  in  the  popular  mind.  We  be- 
lieve in  a  literal  resurrection  and  an  actual 
hereafter,  in  which  future  state  will  be  re- 
cognized every  sanctified  and  authorized 
relationship  existing  here  on  earth — of 
parent  and  child,  brother  and  sister,  hus- 
band and  wife.  We  beheve,  further,  that 
contracts  as  of  marriage,  to  be  valid  beyond 
the  vail  of  mortality  must  be  sanctioned  by 
a  power  greater  than  that  of  earth.  With 
the  seal  of  the  holy  Priesthood  upon  their 
wedded  state,  these  people  believe  implicitly 
in  the  perpetuity  of  that  relationship  on 
the  far  side  of  the  grave.  They  marry  not 
with  the  saddening  Umitation  "Until  death 
do  you  part,"  but  "For  time  and  for  all 
eternity/'  This  constitutes  celestial  mar- 
riage. The  thought  that  polygamy  has  ever 
been  the  head  and  front  of  "Mormon"  of- 
fending, that  to  it  is  traceable  as  the  true 
cause  the  hatred  of  other  sects  and  the  un- 
popularity of  the  Church,  is  not  tenable  to 
the  earnest  thinker.  Sad  as  have  been  the 
experiences  of  the  people  in  consequence  of 
this  practice,  deep  and  anguish-laden  as 
have  been  the  sighs  and  groans,  hot  and 


THE  STORY  OF  ''mORMONISM."  83 

bitter  as  have  been  the  tears  so  caused,  the 
heaviest  persecution,  the  cruelest  treatment 
of  their  history  began  before  plural  mar- 
riage was  known  in  the  Church.  There  is 
no  sect  nor  people  that  sets  a  higher  value  on 
virtue  and  chastity  than  do  the  Latter-day 
Saints,  nor  a  people  that  visits  surer  retribu- 
tion upon  the  heads  of  offenders  against  the 
laws  of  sexual  purity.  To  them  marriage  is 
not,  can  never  be,  a  civil  compact  alone; 
its  significance  reaches  beyond  mortality; 
its  obhgations  are  eternal;  and  the  Latter- 
day  Saints  are  notable  for  the  sanctity  with 
which  they  invest  the  marital  state.  It  has 
been  my  privilege  to  tread  the  soil  of  many 
lands,  to  observe  the  customs  and  study  the 
habits  of  more  nations  than  one;  and  I  have 
yet  to  find  the  place  and  hear  the  people, 
where  and  with  whom  the  purity  of  man 
and  woman  is  held  more  precious  than 
among  the  mahgned  ''Mormons"  in  the 
mountain  valleys  of  the  west.  There  I  find 
this  measure  of  just  equality  of  the  sexes 
— that  the  sins  of  man  shall  not  be  visited 
upon  the  head  of  woman. 

At  the  inception  of  polygamy  among  the 
Latter-day  Saints,  there  was  no  law, 
national  or  state,  against  its  practice.  This 
statement  assumes,  as  granted,  a  distinc- 
tion between  bigamy  and  the  "Mormon" 


84 


institution.  In  1862,  a  law  was  enacted 
with  the  purpose  of  suppressing  polygamy; 
and,  as  had  been  predicted  in  the  national 
Senate  prior  to  its  passage,  it  lay  for  many 
years  a  dead  letter.  Federal  judges  and 
United  States  attorneys  in  Utah,  who  were 
not  ''Mormons"  nor  lovers  of  ''Mormonism," 
refused  to  entertain  complaints  or  prose- 
cute cases  under  the  law,  because  of  its  mani- 
fest injustice  and  inadequacy. 

But  other  laws  followed,  most^^^of^ which, 
as  the  Latter-day  Saints  believe,  were  aimed 
directly  at  their  rehgious  conception  of  the 
marriage  contract,  and  not  at  social  impro- 
priety nor  sexual  offense. 

At  last  the j;  Edmunds-Tucker  law  took 
effect,  making  not  the  marriage  alone  but 
the  subsequent  acknowledging  of  the  con- 
tract an  offense  punishable  by  fine  or  im- 
prisonment or  both.  Under  the  spell  of 
unrighteous  zeal,  the  "federal  judicary  of 
Utah  announced  and  practiced  that  most 
infamous  doctrine  of  segregation  of  offenses 
with  accumulating  penalties. 

I  who  write  have  Ustened  to  judges 
instructing  grand  juries  in  such  terms  as 
these:  that  although  the  law  of  Congress 
designated  as  an  offense  the  acknowledging 
of  more  living  wives  than  one  by  any  man, 
and  prescribed  a  penalty  therefor,  as  Con- 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  85 

gress  had  not  specified  the  length  of  time 
during  which  this  unlawful  acknowledging 
must  continue  to  constitute  the  offense, 
grand  juries  might  indict  separately  for 
every  day  of  the  period  during  which  the 
forbidden  relationship  existed.  This  meant 
that  for  an  alleged  misdemeanor — for  which 
Congress  prescribed  a  maximum  penalty  of 
six  months'  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  three 
hundred  dollars — a  man  might  be  impris- 
oned for  life,  aye,  for  many  terms  of  a  man's 
natural  fife  did  the  court's  power  to  en- 
force its  sentences  extend  so  far,  and  might 
be  fined  millions  of  dollars.  Before  this 
travesty  on  the  administration  of  law 
could  be  brought  before  the  court  of  last  re- 
sort, and  there  meet  with  the  reversal  and 
rebuke  it  deserved,  men  were  imprisoned 
under  sentences  of  many  years  duration. 

The  people  contested  these  measures  one 
by  one  in  the  courts;  presenting  in  case  after 
case  the  different  phases  of  the  subject,  and 
urging  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  meas- 
ure. Then  the  Church  was  disincorporated, 
and  its  property  both  real  and  personal  confis- 
cated and  escheated  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States;  and  although  the  per- 
sonal property  was  soon  restored,  real  es- 
tate of  great  value  long  lay  in  the  hands 
of  the  court's  receiver,  and  the  "Mormon" 


86  THE  STORY  OF  ''MORMONISM." 

Church  had  to  pay  the  government  high 
rental  on  its  own  property.  But  the  peo- 
ple have  suspended  the  practice  of  poly- 
gamy; and  the  testimony  of  the  governors, 
judges,  and  district  attorneys  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  later  that  of  the  officers  of  the 
state,  have  declared  the  sincerity  of  the 
renunciation. 

As  the  people  had  adopted  the  practice 
under  what  was  believed  to  be  divine 
approval,  they  suspended  it  when  they 
were  justified  in  so  doing.  In  whatever 
Ught  this  practice  has  been  regarded  in  the 
past,  it  is  to-day  a  dead  issue,  forbidden  by 
ecclesiastical  rule  as  it  is  prohibited  by 
legal  statute.  .And  the  world  is  learning, 
to  its  manifest  surprise,  that  polygamy  and 
''Mormonism"  are  not  synonymous  terms. 


And  so  the  story  of  ''Mormonism"  runs 
on;  its  finale  has  not  yet  been  written;  the 
current  press  presents  continuously  new 
stages  of  its  progress,  new  developments  of 
its  plan.  To-day  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints  is  stronger  than 
ever  before;  and  the  people  are  confident 
that  it  is  at  its  weakest  stage  for  all  time  to 
come.     It  lives  and  thrives  because  within 


THE  STORY  OF  "mORMONISM."  87 

it  are  the  elements  of  thrift  and  the  forces 
of  life.  It  embraces  a  boundless  liberality 
of  belief  and  practice;  true  toleration  is 
one  of  its  essential  features;  it  makes  love 
for  manldnd  second  only  to  love  for  Deity. 
Its  creed  provides  for  the  protection  of 
all  men  in  their  rights  of  worship  according 
to  the  dictates  of  conscience.  It  contem- 
plates a  millennium  of  peace,  when  every 
man  shall  love  and  respect  his  neighbor's 
opinion  as  he  regards  himself  and  his  own — 
a  day  when  the  voice  of  the  people  shall  be 
in  unison  with  the  voice  of  God. 


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